The Devil's Own
by sofia313
Summary: "What does Lucifer want with this girl? She's just scared and confused human girl, there's nothing special about her." "That's where you are wrong, Dean," Castiel replied. "Lucifer will do anything to get his hands on her and he will destroy anyone who tries to get in his way." Set in season 5
1. Prologue

**This is my first Supernatural fic, sorry about the short prologue. The next chapter is going to be longer.**

* * *

 **Prologue**

Lucifer was standing in the balcony of the hotel suite he was currently staying, silently observing the lights below him. Even in nighttime, the city was full of life. People were coming and going like insects. He could have easily crushed them like insects. Pathetic hairless apes. He had most definitely been right about them; they were nothing but vile and filthy creatures that were only capable of killing each other, causing chaos and destroying the planet than had been given to them. They didn't deserve such a gift, they never had. And because of these creatures, he had suffered for so long spending endless days, months, years, decades and centuries in the cage.

There was no time there, only endless agony. No one could have ever imagined anything like it, not even his "beloved" children. They truly were like children, desperately seeking for their father's approval. The truth was that demons didn't really mean anything to Lucifer, they were merely his tools. Perhaps people called him the devil, but he wasn't a demon, he never had been. He was an angel. An angel who all the other angels, his own brothers and sisters, wanted dead. There was no place for him, he didn't belong anywhere. That would all change soon, this world and all the others would belong to him and these creatures would bow down to him, just like the demons.

"Sir?" a cautious male voice said from behind his back. "I have some news."

"About Sam Winchester?" Lucifer asked without turning to look at his lackey. "Have you found him?"

"No, sir, not him. But we managed to locate her."

Lucifer's lips curved into a satisfied smile before he turned around.

"You found my girl?"

The male demon called Ezra looked a bit nervous, as always when he had to meet Lucifer's gaze. The demon's meat suit was a young man, in his early twenties.

"Yes, sir. Few of our best men are picking her up as we speak."

Lucifer's eyebrows furrowed.

"And they know not to harm a hair on her head?"

"Yes, sir," Ezra replied quickly. "Absolutely. She will be brought to you completely unharmed."

Lucifer smiled, but there was nothing friendly about his smile.

"She better or else I will be very upset."

Ezra swallowed.

"Yes, sir."

"And send more groups, just in case. There can be no mistakes."

Lucifer was just about to turn his back to the young demon when something crossed his mind.

"Do you know the girl's name?"

"Yes, sir, it's Mia. Mia Harlow."

Mia… Lucifer considered the name for a moment, it didn't sound too bad. He was certainly looking forward to meeting this young lady.


	2. Mia

**Chapter 1**

 **Mia**

Portland, Oregon

Coffee stains. Mia Harlow hated coffee stains, especially the grimy ones. If a grownup person spilled his or hers coffee, would it really be so much trouble to wipe the stains off before they would be grimy? Apparently so. She sighed and continued rubbing the messy desk. There were all kinds of papers lying on the desk and she really had to resist her urge to organize them, she knew perfectly well that she wasn't allowed to touch them. No, she dusted, emptied the trashcans, mopped the floors, watered the plants, cleaned up the break room and so on. Despite of the coffee stains, she usually liked her job. Maybe it wasn't the most glamorous job in the world, but she enjoyed cleaning, as strange as that was.

She had always been a very tidy person, she couldn't stand any mess. Her brother Oliver often teased her about that, he on the other hand was everything but tidy. Cleaning offices wasn't as hard as cleaning homes, especially very big homes, so she felt very fortunate for having a job like this for a change. With her education, this was more than she could have hoped. She had barely finished high school, but she had finished it, thanks to her brother. He hadn't let her to give up, no matter how much she had wanted to.

The school itself hadn't been so bad; in different circumstances she could have even liked it and tried more, but she hadn't felt much need to try when most of her classmates had made it their mission to let her know how stupid and worthless she was. Scum. A freak. Ugly. Poor. Filthy. One of the girls had even managed to take a picture of her scars in the locker room and sent it to everyone. They had all laughed, called her all kinds of names. Mia hadn't shown them any emotions, she never had, but that night she had cried.

Ollie had said that there was nothing ugly about her and when those brats would grow up, they would regret the things they had done. Surely the teachers had noticed what was going on, but they hadn't cared. Her foster parents certainly hadn't cared either, her foster mother had just snorted that the world was a cruel place; she needed to learn how to stand up for herself. Her darling Ollie had been the only one who had cared. Maybe he wasn't her biological brother, but that made no difference, he was the only person in this world she called family.

Mia felt more than pleased with herself when she got the damn coffee stain out, the desk looked spotless. The whole building was almost empty in this hour; there were only two security guards downstairs and couple of office workers who were pretty much always here. Mia had sometimes wondered when they had time to sleep or do much anything else than work. She herself came to work after the office hours; working in the evening suited her just fine. She liked the peace and quiet and she had never been really a morning person.

Fortunately she was almost finished for the night; she only had one office left. It was the biggest one on the floor, Mr. Ludlow's office. He was the office manager and he was one of those people who seemed to be always here. There wasn't anyone else here now, just the two of them. For some reason Mia usually felt a little uncomfortable when she had to clean up his office, although he was always polite to her. There was just something about the way he looked at her that made her uncomfortable. Surely it was all in her head. The door to his office was slightly open, but she still knocked.

"Mr. Ludlow?"

"Come in, Mia," he replied.

As usual, he was sitting at his desk. He was a tall, hefty man in his early forties; he had dark (probably dyed) hair and grey blue eyes.

"Good evening," she said as politely as she could. "May I clean your office?"

He looked up and smiled.

"Of course, come in."

"Thank you."

She started by dusting, she wanted to finish as quickly as she could.

"How long have you worked here, Mia?" he asked casually after a moment of silence.

"Almost 7 months," she replied.

"Hmm. Have you liked it here?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that. I have also heard that you've done an excellent job."

"Thank you, sir."

He smiled.

"Yes, a hardworking young woman such as you can go far in this firm."

She wasn't sure how to reply, there was something about the tone of his voice she really didn't like.

"Thank you, but I'm happy doing what I do."

"Being a cleaner?" he snorted. "Oh please, surely you want something more in life."

"I don't," she muttered. "Excuse me," she added and reached for the trashcan under the desk. Before she could reach it, she felt his hand squishing her bottom.

"What are you doing?" she snapped and backed away.

He was still smiling.

"Oh come on, you can drop the hard to get act," he purred. "You've been flirting with me since the beginning, always shaking that pretty ass of yours."

For a moment she was so shocked that she couldn't get a word out.

"What… Are you insane?"

His eyebrows furrowed.

"I told you to drop the act."

"I'm not acting," she snapped. "You have no right to touch me."

He stood up, but she was too angry to run.

"I would watch it if I were you," he stated icily. "If you want me to help you…"

"I don't!" she snapped angrily. "I don't want anything from you!"

His eyes narrowed.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Someone like you should be flattered that someone like me even knows that you exist."

She glared at him and crossed her arms.

"I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole."

She regretted her words when she saw the look on his face, he was apoplectic.

"You arrogant little slut."

She ran to the door, but he grabbed her arm before she could get out.

"I'll teach you manners!"

Fortunately she didn't panic; she needed to do like Ollie had taught. Mr. Ludlow tensed up and cried out in pain when she kicked him between the legs as hard as she could. Fortunately that made him to let go of her.

"Bitch!" he shouted when she ran to the hallway. "You're fired! And if you try to make up any stories, I swear I will destroy you! No one will believe your word over mine!"

She didn't stop; she needed to get out of here. Quickly she grabbed her backpack with her and ran down the stairs.

"Good night, Mia…" one of the security guards called Harry started, but she was too upset to stop. As soon as she was outside, she picked up her phone with shaky hands. Come on, pick up…

" _This is Oliver, I can't pick up right now, but you know what to do. Unless you're a telemarketer, in that case, don't bother. "_

Oh great, a voicemail.

"Ollie, it's me," she muttered. "I…please just call me."

She needed a moment before she managed to walk over to her bike. Home… She needed to get home where she was safe. Thankfully the apartment building where she lived wasn't very far; usually she was happy that her workplace was so near to her home. She was strangely calm when she pedaled down the street, she didn't really notice anything around her. What was she supposed to do now? She had no idea. No, what she needed to do was talk to Ollie; he would know what to do. Surely he would call her soon.

The ride felt longer than usually, but finally she was home. Slowly she walked up the stairs and looked for her keys. After finally finding them, she opened the door and stepped inside her small but tidy apartment. Something was wrong… Automatically she closed the door behind her before finishing her thought. She turned the lights on and gasped in shock when she saw a man, he was aiming at her with a gun.

"Don't move," he ordered firmly.

Her mouth floundered open and closed, he wasn't wearing a mask. Quickly she looked down; she would have no chance if he would think that she could identify him.

"I-I… My wallet…it's in the bag," she managed to say. "In my backpack. Please take it, take whatever you want, just please don't hurt me."

"Dean," another male voice said, he sounded almost scolding. "It's okay; we're not going to hurt you."

She didn't say anything; she just kept her eyes on the floor.

"Are you Mia Harlow?" the man with the gun asked.

She had no idea what to say, her mind refused to cooperate.

"Answer me."

"Yes," she muttered. "Please… I…"

She flinched when the gunman marched in front of her and took a hold of her arm.

"You're coming with us. And I'm warning you, don't try anything foolish."


	3. Pie hogger

**Thank you for the reviews, favs and alerts, please feel free to ask if you have any questions :) About why she didn't say anything to the security guards, first of all she was in panic, she only wanted to get out, second of all she has a lot of trust issues, she only trusts her brother and third of all, she's not very good at dealing with difficult things and she couldn't have proven anything, it would have been his word against hers.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 **Pie hogger**

"I'm sorry about this," the second male voice said, he had just bound Mia's wrists in duct tape. "You're not hurting, are you?"

"You should have used the handcuffs," the gunman huffed. "We don't know what she is."

"She's not a demon," the second man replied. "I checked, remember?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean she's harmless."

"She didn't react to silver or anything else. She's human."

Mia was struggling to stay calm, but she had never been so scared in her life. Judging by the things she was hearing, she had been kidnapped by two lunatics. They had forced her to come with them and shoved her into their car. The gunman was driving and the second man was sitting next to her on the backseat. She had been very careful for not to look at either of them and now she kept her eyes firmly closed, in case that would make any difference.

They had poured water on her and Lord knew what else, her terror had paralyzed her for a moment. That moment had been too long; she should have done something, anything. She should have screamed or tried to run or… and then what, they would have killed her there and then? Maybe, but at least she would have tried to save her life. Lord knew what would happen to her now. She could only blame herself though; she had been a damn coward. She still was a coward; she was shaking like a leaf.

"It's okay," the second man said, his tone of voice sounded calming. "You can open your eyes."

She shook her head.

"I don't want to see your faces."

"It doesn't matter," the gunman huffed.

She couldn't help but to flinch. They were going to kill her.

"Please… I… I have some savings, you can have all of it, just please let me go. I won't tell anyone about this, I swear."

"I'm sorry, but we can't let you go," the second man said. If she wouldn't have known better, she would have thought that he actually was sorry. "You don't have to be scared; we're not going to hurt you."

"What…what do you want from me?"

Both men were quiet for a while, Mia had no idea was that a good or bad thing.

"It's…complicated," the second man finally said.

"You can say that again," the gunman muttered.

"Listen, why don't we start with something easy," the second man continued. "I'm Sam and he's Dean. Your name is Mia, right?"

She hesitated for a brief moment before nodding, although somehow they already knew who she was.

"It's nice to meet you, Mia and you really can open your eyes. As hard as it must be to believe right now, we're not the bad guys."

She barely managed to suppress a snort; it really was hard to believe.

"Okay…" she muttered and cautiously opened her eyes. Her tied hands were folded on her lap; she didn't have enough courage to look up. "If… if you're not going to hurt me, why did you tie my hands?"

"Precaution, sweetheart," the gunman, or Dean, stated. "One can never be too careful in our line of work."

"What work is that?" she asked as calmly as she could.

"We're hunters."

Hunters? That didn't make any sense to Mia.

"I don't understand… What does your hobby have to do with me? I'm not a deer."

"Not that kind of hunters."

She swallowed; she had a really bad feeling about this.

"What…what do you hunt then?"

"Well, have you ever seen The Hills Have Eyes?"

"Dude, really?" Sam snapped when Mia started to shake. "He's kidding, I swear, we're not some psychopaths. He's just a moron."

"Yeah, sorry, that was a bad joke. We don't hunt people."

Mia tried her best to pull herself together, she still had no idea what was going on.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To a safe place," Sam replied.

"I was perfectly safe in my home," she snapped before she managed to stop herself.

"No, you weren't," Dean responded. "You're lucky we found you first."

Lucky? Sure.

"What are you talking about?"

"It's a long story," Sam said. "I think we should talk about that later after… we're sure. Have you…"

"No, I haven't reached Cas," Dean cut in. "He's not answering his phone."

Mia tried desperately to understand what was going on, but she really couldn't. After a moment of hesitation, she raised her head and looked at the man sitting beside her. He seemed to be in his mid twenties, he had brown hair and brown eyes. Even though he was sitting, it wasn't difficult to tell that he was tall; he had broad shoulders and muscular chest. He was wearing jeans and a plaid shirt.

"Everything's going to be okay," he said, giving her a reassuring smile.

"Please tell me what do you want from me," she asked.

"Trust me, you wouldn't believe us," Dean huffed. "Just make yourself comfortable, we have a long ride ahead."

"Are you hungry?" Sam asked. "Or thirsty?"

"She's not getting my last pie," Dean snorted.

"I just want to go home," Mia muttered, trying to swallow her tears. She didn't really succeed; everything that had happened tonight was starting to take its toll.

"Hey…" Sam murmured.

"Okay, okay, you can have the pie," Dean said. "No need for the waterworks."

Apparently they couldn't handle crying women so well. That was probably a good thing, maybe they weren't serial killers.

"What kind of pie?" she heard herself asking.

"Cherry."

She nodded.

"I think I'll have it, thank you."

After tonight, the least she had earned was a freaking pie.

* * *

4 hours later

"Come on," Dean muttered. "Where the hell are you, Cas?"

"He's still not picking up?" Sam asked, trying to speak quietly, he didn't want to wake the girl up. She had finally fallen asleep an hour ago, although she had tried very hard to stay awake. That was certainly understandable.

"Cas! Where are you? Yeah, she's with us, there were five demons waiting for her… We're almost at the cabin, it's right… Geez!"

Both Sam and Dean startled when Castiel appeared on the front seat next to Dean, making him to drop his phone.

"Damn it, Cas!" Dean snapped. "I've told you not to do that!"

Castiel glanced at him calmly and turned to look at the girl.

"My apologies."

"Where have you been?" Dean asked.

"This is her?" Castiel stated, ignoring Dean's question.

"Yeah," Sam replied.

Castiel stared at the sleeping girl; his face was completely callous.

"What does Lucifer want with this girl anyway?" Dean asked. "As far as I can tell, she's just scared and confused human girl, there's nothing special about her."

"That's where you are wrong, Dean," Castiel replied. "If this is indeed the right girl, Lucifer will do anything to get his hands on her and he will destroy anyone who tries to get in his way."

"Why?" Dean asked. "What the hell is she?"

"I need to be sure that she is the right girl," Castiel stated, again ignoring Dean's question.

"How?" Sam asked.

"She should have the mark."

Mia blinked her eyes sleepily, awaken by the sounds. Sam could tell the exact moment when she remembered where she was, she tensed immediately when she noticed Castiel staring at her. Dean had just stopped the Impala in front of the cabin that belonged to a friend of Bobby's. It should be a safe place.

"Where are we?" Mia muttered, clearly she was nervous.

"Why don't we go inside," Sam said, trying his best to sound calming. He truly felt sorry for the girl, she had no idea what was going on. Judging by her apartment, she was just a normal young woman, living a normal life. Her wrists were still bound, although Sam would have wanted to untie her. She winced a little and would have fell down if Dean wouldn't have caught her when she stepped outside; apparently her legs were a bit numb.

"Easy there, pie hogger," he said and kept his arm around her until she was able to stand by herself.

"Do you need some help?" Sam asked when Dean marched to the door and unlocked it.

Mia shook her head.

"No, thank you."

Castiel didn't turn his eyes away from Mia; she was becoming more and more nervous.

"Who's he?" she muttered.

"His name is Cas," Sam replied. "He's a friend of ours. Please."

Mia was breathing faster when Sam led her towards the cabin; Dean had already turned the lights on. The cabin wasn't very big; there were two small bedrooms, a bathroom, a small kitchen and a living room. There were no neighbors anywhere near, only forest. Mia was shaking when they were inside; she was trying to find a way to escape.

"It's okay…" Sam started.

"Remove your clothes," Castiel ordered calmly.

Her eyes widened in terror, she backed away until her back hit the wall.

"Really, Cas?" Dean snorted. "You couldn't think of any other way to scare her more?"

"I need to be sure," Castiel stated. "I need to see the mark."


	4. The mark

**Chapter 3**

 **The mark**

"Stay away from me you creep!" Mia shouted, trying to fight against panic. The dark-haired man who was wearing a suit and a beige trench coat took a calm step towards her; there was no expression on his face. "Someone please help me!"

She was trapped and her hands were tied, but she wasn't going to let anyone touch her without a fight, no matter how terrified she was.

"Hey," Sam said and stepped in front of the dark-haired man. "Stop it, Cas, you're scaring her half to death."

"Yes, I can see that she is very emotional," he replied.

"No kidding?" Dean huffed. "Most women probably would be if a stranger would tell them to take their clothes off."

The man whose name apparently was Cas turned to look at Dean.

"How else am I supposed to see her skin?"

"That's not the point," Dean responded. "She's scared because she thinks that you're going to do much more than just look at her skin."

Cas seemed confused.

"What more?"

"You know, what people usually do when they're naked."

"Oh, I understand." He paused and looked at Mia. "You can calm down, I have no intention to have sexual intercourse with you," he stated calmly. "Now please remove your clothes."

She stared at him disbelievingly, he was crazy. They all were crazy.

"No!"

"Alright, how about you let me handle this," Sam said to Cas and turned to look at Mia.

"I apologize for him; he's not really… a people person."

She didn't say anything; her mind was desperately trying to find a way out.

"What's this mark she should have?" Dean asked.

"I will recognize it when I see it," Cas replied.

"Listen, Mia," Sam said. "Do you have any birthmarks or anything like that?"

She did have a birthmark, but there was no way she was going to tell them that. Who knew what twisted game they were playing.

"No," she muttered.

"She is lying," Cas stated.

"No, I'm not."

Unfortunately she had never been a very good liar. They all knew that she was lying and they had her cornered.

"Don't…" she pleaded when Sam stepped in front of her.

"It's okay," he said and raised his hands in surrender. "I'm just going to untie your hands, okay?"

She looked at him cautiously; he was giving her a calming smile. Slowly he picked up a pocketknife and freed her hands.

"There, all better."

"Thank you," she muttered and rubbed her wrists.

He took a step back.

"You're welcome. I know you must be scared right now, but no one's going to hurt you. We just need to see that birthmark."

"Why?" she murmured and wrapped her arms around her.

"Please, just let us see it. We're not going touch you, I swear."

"What if I refuse?"

"You don't want to try that," Dean responded. "Trust me, sweetheart. There's no need to make this more unpleasant than it has to be."

She took a deep breath and looked at Sam; he seemed like the safest one of them.

"If I do this, will you let me go?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't promise that," he replied. "What I can promise is that we're not going to touch you, we just want to take a quick look at the birthmark."

"Why?"

"We are wasting time," Cas stated. "I can…"

"No," Sam cut in, keeping his eyes on Mia. "Please."

She really wouldn't have wanted to do this, but she didn't see much choice. The last thing she wanted was them to tear her clothes off. With shaky hands she started to unbutton her dark blue work shirt. She wore a white top under it.

"Where do you have the mark?" Sam asked, apparently trying to sound calming.

"On my chest," she muttered, trying to stay as calm as she could. "You…you'll just look?"

"Yes, we won't touch you."

None of this made any sense to her, why did they want to see her birthmark? Because they were crazy, that's why. Okay, she could do this… Her hands were shaking even more and a tear rolled down her cheek when she forced herself to lift the top, revealing the scars on her belly. The birthmark was above her left breast, it was mostly covered by her floral print bra.

"No," she muttered and tried to get away when Cas stepped in front of her. He was staring at her chest and reached towards her bra. "You promised…"

"Cas…"

"I need to see it," he stated.

She was shaking when he lifted her bra, but he didn't touch her skin. There was no expression on his face when he stared at the mark.

"Well?" Dean asked.

"She has the mark. She is the right girl."

"What?" she muttered when he took a step back, she didn't waste any time to pull her top down.

"What is she?" Dean asked.

"I am not sure," Cas replied, his eyes were still observing Mia.

"You're not sure? Really?"

"Yes, really."

"But you know something?"

"I do."

Dean and Sam looked at him expectantly, but he didn't continue.

"Feel free to share," Dean said after a brief moment of silence. Mia wasn't looking at any of them, but she felt Cas staring at her.

"As I said, I have no certain information, but according to the legend before Lucifer was caged, he hid something on Earth. Something very precious to him."

"What something?" Sam asked.

"No one knows that, not even Michael."

"Wait, wait, you're saying that she's that something?" Dean asked disbelievingly.

"Yes. She has his mark."

"But she's human," Sam argued.

"Yes, so it seems."

Mia stared at them all in turns; they were more than crazy.

"What are you talking about?" she muttered before she managed to stop herself. "Lucifer? As in…the devil?"

Were they Satanists? Oh dear Lord, were they going to sacrifice her or something?

"Why don't we sit down…" Sam started.

"I don't want to sit down," she snapped. "I want to know why I'm here. What is it that you want from me?"

"We want to keep you safe," Sam replied.

"Safe from what? From the devil?" she asked sharply. She was starting to be too annoyed to be scared.

"You don't know anything else?" Dean asked.

"No," Cas replied. "Nothing certain. I wasn't even sure that she exists before yesterday."

"What are we supposed to do with her?"

"That's a good question. According to what I found out, Lucifer will do everything in his power to find her and I would imagine that so will the angels. They will want to use her against Lucifer."

"They don't even know why Lucifer wants her, do they?"

"Not exactly, but…"

"Hey!" Mia shouted. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I don't want any part in it. I want to go home, take a shower and have a good night sleep."

"Sorry, but that's not going to happen," Dean replied. "Can she be tracked?"

"It seems that she can't be," Cas replied. "I find that interesting. I need to study her more."

"No!" Mia snapped. "Stay away from me!"

These people were damn nut jobs…

"Cas," Sam said. "I think you should show her what you are." He paused and looked at Mia. "Castiel isn't a human, he's an angel."

"Right…" she muttered. "Of course he is."

"Show her."

Mia gasped when Castiel suddenly disappeared in front of her eyes.

"What…"

After few seconds he returned, appeared out of thin air. Great, she was losing her mind… Did he… It seemed that he had wings. She was so stunned that she couldn't get a word out.

"I know this is a lot to digest," Sam said. "Angels are real and so are demons."

"And vampires, werewolves, witches, ghosts and so on," Dean added.

"What…"

Mia had no idea what to think, her mouth floundered open and closed.

"Would you like to have a drink?" Sam asked after a moment of silence.

"Yeah," she muttered. "I think I would, thanks."

She rarely drank any alcohol, but right now a drink sounded good.


	5. Angels and devils

**Chapter 4**

 **Angels and devils**

"Right…" Mia muttered and stared at the light brown liquid in her glass. Apparently it was some kind of whiskey, it tasted really terrible. "Right… So, he's an angel, you two hunt monsters and I have the mark of the devil on my chest."

"Yeah," Dean replied. "That pretty much sums it up."

Mia had no idea what to think, she really wanted to wake up. None of this could be real; she was having some messed up nightmare. There were no such things than monsters, at least not supernatural ones. People were more than capable of being monsters when they wanted to. And the devil… That was just crazy.

"But… What does that make me?" she finally managed to ask, although she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"We don't know," Sam said, he sounded sympathetic. "But don't worry, we'll work this out. You'll be safe here."

Mia took a deep breath before looking up. She was sitting on a worn-out armchair; Sam and Dean were on the sofa opposite her. The angel was standing few steps away from the armchair; he kept silently staring at her.

"Would you mind?" she muttered.

"Would I mind what?" he inquired.

"Could you stop staring at me, it's creepy."

"I apologize," he replied calmly, but didn't turn his eyes away.

She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Fine."

She placed the glass on the small coffee table between the armchair and the sofa and crossed her arms. The angel wanted a staring match, fine.

"You know, you're not what I thought angels would look like," she stated.

"Yeah, they're not hot chicks with fluffy wings," Dean said. "Believe me; I was just as disappointed as you are."

Castiel didn't comment on that, he kept his eyes on Mia.

"Could you at least say why you're staring at me?" she huffed after a moment of silence.

"I am trying to understand you," he replied. "What you are."

"What am I?"

"That I don't know," he replied. "It bothers me."

"I can see that," she huffed.

"Could you tell us about yourself?" Sam asked. "Have you ever experienced any strange or unexplainable things?"

"No, I was enjoying my normal boring life until tonight."

"What about the scars on your stomach?" Dean asked.

Mia tensed and pressed her lips together.

"That's private."

"Not anymore, I'm afraid."

She didn't say anything; she wasn't going to share her life story with them. She had never confided in anyone except…

"Ollie!" she suddenly cried out and jumped to her feet. How could she had forgotten, poor Ollie must be worried sick. Her phone… It was in her backpack which was in her apartment. Sam and Dean had stood up as well, she almost ran to them.

"I need a phone, I… I need to call my brother."

"Mia…" Sam started.

"Please, I need to call him, he must be so worried…"

"No," Dean cut in. "I'm afraid you can't call him or anyone else."

"What?" she snapped. "You can't stop me from calling my brother!"

"Actually we can. You don't understand…"

"No, I don't!" she shouted, she had no self-control left. She needed to speak with Ollie; he would make everything alright again, just like he always did. "I didn't ask for any of this and I don't want to understand! I'm leaving!"

She turned around and was just about to run to the door when the angel appeared in front of her. She didn't have time to react when he touched her forehead. His arms catching her were the last thing she felt before she lost consciousness.

* * *

Lucifer ran his fingers softly over a twin bed. The cover was floral print, as were the curtains in the very small bedroom. The bed was made neatly; there was some kind of stuffed animal between the colorful cushions. He picked it up and observed it. A tiger. There was a dream catcher hanging above the bed and a framed picture of an angel watching over two children on the wall. Lucifer couldn't help but smile when he looked at it. Mia also had a small collection of porcelain angels on the bookshelf in the living room/kitchen. Coincidence? He didn't think so.

On the nightstand there was an unfinished knitting work, apparently a sock. There was also a framed photo of Mia and a dark-haired young man. He was in his mid twenties; he had dark blue eyes and glasses. The brother. The most important person in Mia's life. Slowly Lucifer made his way back to the living room/kitchen; he could feel the trace of her presence in the little apartment. It had been so long… Too long. His eyebrows furrowed when he glanced at one of the dead meat suits lying on the floor. Idiots. And these were supposed to be some of his best soldiers. Pathetic.

It didn't matter; he would find her and the Winchesters. They hadn't hurt her; he would have felt if they would have. And they wouldn't find out anything important; he had made sure of it. She was his best kept secret; no one else would ever know the truth about her. Unfortunately it seemed that he had been too thorough when he had made sure that she would stay hidden from everyone. It seemed that he himself couldn't locate her either. Unfortunate setback, but it didn't matter, he would still find her. He closed his eyes and enjoyed sensing her, although the trace was fading. Soon… He opened his eyes when someone knocked briefly before entering the apartment. Mia's brother or at least his body.

"Excuse me, sir," Ezra said with Oliver's mouth.

"Yes?"

"This one doesn't know anything, except that she left him a message earlier tonight, she sounded very upset."

"Hmm. Stay in him and go back to his apartment, I have a feeling that she will contact him sooner or later. Make sure that you don't damage his body."

"Yes, sir."

If this human was important to Mia, then he would be a great gift to her when the time would be right. Surely that would make things easier.

"And I want to know why she was upset."

"Yes, sir, I'll notify the others."

Lucifer stayed in Mia's apartment after Ezra had left, his work here wasn't done.


	6. Meus Pretiosus

**Thank you for the reviews, favs and alerts :) Answers to your questions; Mia isn't Lucifer's daughter, his lover or like Jesse. Good guesses though :)**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **Meus Pretiosus**

"Was that really necessary?" Sam asked when Castiel lifted the unconscious girl up into his arms.

"Yes," Castiel replied simply. He didn't bother to add that she had acted irrationally; he knew that it was all about human feelings. Yes, he knew, but that didn't mean he would have understood. It didn't matter how long he had observed humans, there was still a lot about them he simply couldn't understand. Sam and Dean followed him when he carried the girl to the nearest bedroom. He placed her on the bed and observed her closely. Something about her was really bothering him. She was human, but yet in some way she wasn't. That made absolutely no sense. The mark… Calmly he started to unbutton her shirt; he needed to take a better look.

"Hey," Sam said. "What are you doing?"

Humans and their endless questions. Castiel liked the Winchesters, he really did, but sometimes he felt that he had to explain completely obvious things. Still he tried his best to keep in mind how different place the world was to them; they couldn't even imagine what Castiel had seen and experienced along the centuries. He doubted that they would have even recognized their world if they would have seen it through Castiel's eyes. Judging by Sam's disapproving tone; he thought that Castiel was doing something wrong.

"I want to take a closer look at the mark."

"You can't do that when she's unconscious."

Castiel really couldn't understand why not, the whole thing was much easier like this. He needed to take a better look in peace without having to deal with her emotions. And this was more pleasant way for her as well; she didn't have to feel fear or anxiety.

"Why not?"

"Because that's wrong," Sam replied firmly.

"Why?"

Sam sighed.

"Dean? Help me out here."

"Well," Dean started, he sounded amused. "You see, Cas, undressing roofied women can take you to jail. And it's not considered very appropriate behavior."

Now he understood, this was a sex thing again. He should have known; one of the first things he had learned about humans was that they were obsessed with sex, they associated it with everything.

"I have no intention of harming her," he stated. "At least not yet."

"What?" Sam asked, he didn't sound pleased.

Just like most angels, Castiel was usually quite patient and he had found that to be a very useful quality while dealing with humans.

"Surely you understand that she can be a threat," he explained patiently. "If that is the case, then I must do what needs to be done."

"She's innocent," Sam argued tensely. "You can't just…"

"Do I need to remind you what's at stake here? We can't let Lucifer have her; she might be some kind of weapon."

Sam crossed his arms and glanced at the girl.

"She doesn't seem very dangerous to me. I won't let you hurt her."

Castiel observed him closely.

"Is that Lucifer's vessel talking?"

Sam's eyes widened, he was stunned.

"What?" he snapped.

"I am merely pointing out that perhaps you feel the need to protect this girl because…"

"Alright, that's enough, Cas," Dean cut in firmly. "Sam's trying to look after her because he's Sam, there's nothing more to it."

Castiel was very much aware that Dean had a blind spot when it came to Sam; there was no point of trying to reason with him at the moment.

"I apologize," Castiel stated and turned to look at the girl. "However, this I must do."

"Do it then," Dean said before Sam managed to speak. "But don't enjoy yourself too much."

"Why would I enjoy this?"

"Never mind."

Castiel didn't even try to understand that one; he needed to concentrate on the girl. Carefully he opened her shirt and lifted the top under it. The mark was small but to Castiel it was shining like a beacon. Not literally, but any angel could recognize the mark of an archangel. They all had a unique mark; it was like a signature or a fingerprint. Basically it meant that the marked object, or in this case a person, belonged to the archangel who had marked it. No one had seen Lucifer's mark for a very long time. Why had he marked this girl? Slowly Castiel placed his palm on the mark; he needed to look inside her. He could barely try when he felt something blocking him. It was like a steel wall, there was no way around it. She was very well protected. The only thing Castiel was able to pick up was that Sam had been right about one thing. The girl was innocent.

* * *

" _No, Floyd, please… I'm begging you…"_

" _Shut up, you whore! You've humiliated me for the last time! How many men have you fucked behind my back? How many!"_

" _Please, just think about Mia…"_

" _I couldn't care less about your bastard! I only tolerated her because I loved you! I loved you and you hurt me like this!"_

" _I'm sorry, Floyd, I'm so sorry… Mia, Mia sweetie, tell Floyd how much you love him. He's your daddy isn't he? Tell him. Tell him, Mia!"_

" _Don't bother, whore, we'll all die now."_

" _Floyd, NO!"_

Mia's eyes flew open and she gasped for air, just like always when she woke up after having a nightmare. Everything was alright; she was safe in her bed. Her hand reached for George, the tiger Oliver had given to her many years ago. Her brother had said that George would protect her when he himself wasn't with her. Tigers were brave and fierce.

"Hello, Mia," Oliver's voice suddenly said.

She startled and turned the lights on.

"Ollie?" she muttered sleepily. "What… How are you here?"

He smiled and sat down on the edge of her twin bed.

"Everything's okay, Mia, I'm here now."

She got into a sitting position and wrapped her arms tightly around him.

"I'm happy you're here, I had a nightmare."

"I know," he hummed and stroked her hair. "I know everything, my sweet Mia."

"What?" she muttered.

"I know how much you have suffered," he continued and rubbed her back in a calming gesture. "Please believe me when I say that I never meant for that to happen."

She pulled away and looked at him.

"What are you talking about?"

He smiled and touched her cheek.

"I'm not your brother, Mia. I thought that right now it would be easier for you to speak with me in this form."

She swallowed, something was very wrong.

"What?"

"You know who I am, don't you?"

She shook her head.

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do. My name is Lucifer."

She froze, her mind refused to handle this.

"This is a dream…"

He nodded.

"Yes."

"What…"

She started to remember everything that had happened, the angel, Sam and Dean… The devil… He was right in front of her.

"Could you do something for me, my dear?" he asked smiling. "Could you tell me where you are?"

"You… You're the devil," she heard herself muttering.

He raised an eyebrow, but didn't seem in any way offended.

"That's how humans call me. My name is Lucifer, it means light bringer."

Mia had never been so confused, this couldn't be real.

"That's… What… What do you want from me?"

"All in good time, my sweet Mia," he replied smiling. "Where are you?"

"I don't know," she muttered. It was the truth and strangely he seemed to believe her without a doubt.

"Hmm, that's unfortunate. Oh well, no need to worry, _Meus Pretiosus_ , I will find you."


	7. A miracle

**Again good guesses, but she's not a vessel, Lucifer's sister or God :) I'm sorry but I can't say much more without spoiling.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

 **A miracle**

"Come on, Sammy," Dean sighed. "You need to get some sleep."

"I'm fine," Sam responded. He was sitting on the sofa, concentrated on his laptop and a cup of coffee. It was morning already and Dean had just woken up after few hours of much needed rest. Castiel was standing by the window, silently looking outside.

"I told him that he can sleep," Castiel stated. "Since I don't require any sleep, I can keep watch."

"Why would you want to watch over Lucifer's vessel and the dangerous girl I'm forced to protect?" Sam asked coolly.

"Sam…" Dean sighed.

"It's fine, Dean," Castiel said and turned to look at Sam. "I apologize again for hurting your feelings."

"This isn't about my feelings," Sam replied tensely. "I get that you don't trust me, why would you after everything I've done, but I would rather die thousand times than ever say yes to Lucifer. I don't know why he wants this girl, but none of this is her fault, she doesn't deserve to be mistreated."

"I understand," Castiel replied calmly. "And I am confident we can keep her hidden."

"Yeah, but we need to talk about her brother," Dean said. "I think it's safe to say that there's nothing we can do for him at the moment."

"I agree," Castiel responded. "Lucifer has surely found him by now and probably plans to use him as bait. The girl can't go anywhere near him."

"That won't be easy," Sam said. "Clearly she's very attached to her brother."

"Yeah, I guess we'll either have to keep her tied up or lie," Dean huffed. "A lot."

"We can simply explain to her why she can't contact her brother," Castiel suggested.

Dean shook his head.

"That wouldn't help, trust me. This is her family we're talking about."

Dean tried his best not to think about the whole thing too much, but he did feel sympathy for the girl.

"Did you find out anything?" he continued, changing the subject.

"Yeah," Sam replied. "I think I know how she got the scars. She was in a car accident when she was 8, her mother and stepfather died. It seems that her survival was practically a miracle, the car was completely smashed."

"A miracle, huh?" Dean muttered and glanced at Castiel. "Didn't you say that she's somehow protected?"

"Yes," he replied. "I can't get inside of her."

"No," Sam said firmly before Dean managed to speak. "Let it go."

"Oh come on," Dean protested. "You can't expect me not to comment on that."

"Dean, no."

"What?" Castiel asked, clearly he had no idea what they were talking about.

"Well, if you want to get inside of her, you should try giving her some flowers and buying her dinner first…"

"Dean," Sam warned.

Castiel looked confused.

"Why would I give her flowers?"

"Never mind that," Sam cut in before Dean managed to reply. "She's going to need clothes and some other basic things." He paused and looked at Castiel. "Do you think you could take care of that? We should probably keep as low profile as we can right now."

"Yes," Castiel replied. "I can take care of that."

* * *

Mia had no idea how long she had lied on the bed awake, she had no strength to move or make a sound. Nothing made sense anymore; she didn't know how to handle everything that had happened. She didn't want to handle it; she wanted to go back to her safe boring life. Speaking with the devil certainly wasn't a part of that life. For a moment she almost broke into a hysterical giggle, she didn't even notice when the door opened and someone entered the small bedroom.

"Oh, you're awake," Sam's voice said. "How are you feeling?"

"Am I evil?" she murmured absentmindedly. "Some kind of monster?"

"What?"

He walked over to the bed when she didn't say anything else.

"Mia?"

"Why… I don't…"

"I know," he replied sympathetically and sat down next to her. "It's going to be okay…"

"I spoke with him," she muttered. "The devil."

"What, when?"

It took few seconds before she managed to reply, she wasn't looking at Sam.

"He…he was in my dream, he looked like my brother."

"What did he say?"

It was kind of funny how Sam didn't question her words or her sanity at all, he sounded like she would have just told him some perfectly normal thing.

"He asked where I am."

"What did you tell him?"

She broke into a snigger, the whole situation was nothing but insane.

"I don't know where I am, I don't know what I am, I don't know…" The rest of her sentence turned into a sob, she was afraid that she was losing her mind.

"Hey…"

Sam's hand felt warm and comforting touching her arm, she didn't think that she had ever needed a hug or even a pat on the shoulder more. She had never been a hugger, mostly because she didn't feel comfortable letting other people, except her brother, to invade her personal space. Her mother had never shown her much affection, on the contrary, and her foster parents had taken her and the other children into their house because they had got paid to do that. They had fed and clothed her, like they were supposed to do, but they had never cared about her.

The rules had been very harsh because most of the children had come from very dysfunctional homes. In her home Mia have had no rules, her mother hadn't seem to always remember that she even existed. Her stepfather Floyd hadn't paid much attention to her either; to him she had been mostly an inconvenience. She had learned how to be independent; her mother had always left her home by herself when she and Floyd had gone out. There had been many other men before Floyd and unfortunately also during Floyd.

To Mia the most difficult part about moving into a foster home had been losing her privacy and her own space, she had shared a room with two other girls who had been loud, mean and messy. She had always hated all kind of mess; she loved her clean and safe apartment. The only one of her foster siblings she had been close with had been Oliver. He had taken her under his wing from the beginning; she had no idea what she would have done without him.

She had always have difficulties to let people too close, but just like anyone, she had times when she craved for some kind of human interaction. The feeling of security a person got when someone was physically close to them. She didn't feel that craving very often, but she certainly felt it now. Sam was clearly surprised when she wrapped her arms around him, but he didn't push her away. Instead he hugged her back and for a very brief moment she felt safe.

"What…what's going to happen?" she muttered.

"You'll be safe here," he replied. "We'll work everything out."

"I need to speak with Ollie…"

"You won't if you care about him," Dean's voice cut in.

Mia startled and pulled away from Sam, for a moment she had forgotten that there were other people here.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Your brother is safe right now, but he won't be if Lucifer finds out that you've contacted him," Dean replied. "Do you really want to drag him into this?"

"I… No, but he must be so worried…"

"Better worried than dead or tortured," Dean cut in firmly. "At least so I would think. But it's your choice."

Mia tried to clear her head; the thought of not being able to speak with Oliver was very distressing.

"How do you know that he's safe now?"

"We made sure of that," Dean responded. "So, what do you want to do?"

"I…"

Of course Mia didn't want to drag Oliver into this mess, she wasn't that selfish. He had always been there for her, but now she needed to handle her problems by herself, like an adult.

"Are you sure that he's safe?" she asked, looking at Sam.

"Yes," he replied, giving her a brief smile.

She nodded; she was determined to make sure that he would stay safe, no matter what. Whatever would happen now, she needed to somehow deal with it all by herself.


	8. Bad things

**Chapter 7**

 **Bad things**

3 days later

Sam looked at the sleeping girl on the bed curled up under the blanket, she was very peaceful now. He had no idea how long he had stood there looking at her, he had only came in because he had heard her yelping in her sleep, but now he seemed to be unable to move. She had been pretty much afraid to sleep after Lucifer had appeared in her dream. Sam could certainly relate, he have had his share of unpleasant dreams. She definitely needed to rest; she had scrubbed the whole cabin during the last three days. According to her, she cleaned when she was nervous, distressed or just bored, she enjoyed cleanliness.

Despite of everything, she had handled the whole situation pretty well. They still had no idea what she was, but Castiel had gone to gather some information, he had been gone since yesterday. Dean had been away for couple of hours too, he had gone to the nearest town to buy some supplies and probably grab a beer. Staying indoors for too long really wasn't Dean's thing and he certainly hadn't argued when Sam had offered to stay with Mia.

There was something about her that affected Sam; he really couldn't put his finger on it. It wasn't just physical attraction, although she was a pretty young woman. He simply felt comfortable around her, like he would have known her for much longer. A part of him had wondered if Castiel had been right, was it possible that she affected him because he was Lucifer's vessel? He would have never said that out loud to anyone, the whole thought was ridiculous. He liked her because she was a sweet young woman; there was nothing more to it. Yet he took a step towards the bed immediately when she shivered and sighed in her sleep. Walk away. He didn't, instead he leaned towards her and was about to touch her hair. He almost jumped when her eyes suddenly flew open.

"It's okay," he said quickly before he managed to frighten her. "It's just me."

"Sam?" she muttered sleepily. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no," he replied and cleared his throat, he felt ridiculous. "I… I heard you yelping and I thought… Did you have a nightmare?"

"Yes," she muttered. "But it wasn't about…the devil."

She yawned and got into a sitting position.

"How long did I sleep?"

"Few hours," he replied. "It's almost 9pm."

"Oh."

She stretched her arms and got to her feet, she was wearing a pink Minnie Mouse t-shirt and pink and white pajama pants. Surprisingly Castiel had managed to bring her clothes that fit her, thanks to some helpful saleswoman, but Sam wasn't so sure if Mia liked them, although she hadn't complained.

"I think I'll make myself a cup of tea," she said and headed to the kitchen. "Do you want one too?"

"Sure," Sam replied and followed her.

"Where's Dean?"

"He went to pick up some supplies."

"Oh, okay."

Sam sat at the small kitchen table when Mia picked up the teakettle from the cupboard, she had washed it earlier.

"Do you want something to eat?" she asked. "A sandwich?"

"You really don't have to…"

"It's no trouble," she assured. "I was planning to make one for myself."

"In that case sure, a sandwich would be nice."

She had mentioned that she wasn't much of a cook, but Sam couldn't really agree. Maybe the dishes she cooked were simple, but they were also tasty. Sam had never cooked much himself and he had eaten enough fast food to appreciate a home cooked meal.

"So, you haven't heard from Castiel?" she asked while chopping tomatoes and cucumber.

"No, not yet. Did you get any rest?"

"I guess so," she sighed. "There wasn't any unwanted guest stars, only my usual nightmares."

"What kind of nightmares?" Sam asked. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

She was quiet for a brief moment before replying.

"The nightmares are usually about my mom's death."

"You mean the car accident?"

"Yes, except that it wasn't an accident," she replied calmly and placed a sandwich on a plate in front of Sam. "Here you are."

"Thanks. You mean…"

She poured some tea into two mugs.

"Floyd, my stepfather, was angry at my mom; he wanted to kill us all. Do you want milk or sugar in your tea?"

It took few seconds before Sam managed to reply.

"No, thank you. Mia…"

"It's okay," she cut in and sat down opposite him. "You don't have to say anything. I… I really don't know why I just told you that, I don't usually…"

She took a bite out of her sandwich and concentrated on stirring her tea with a spoon.

"I'm sorry," Sam said quietly. "I've lost both of my parents too."

Mia looked up.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you. So, what about your father?"

Mia shook her head.

"I don't know who he is, my mom never told me. I tried to find out his name when I was older, but I found nothing. My birth certificate says, father: unknown." She paused and sighed. "It doesn't matter, I've made it this far without a dad, I have the best brother in the world."

Sam felt a nasty sting when she mentioned her brother, he felt guilty for lying to her, despite of the circumstances.

"Do you have other siblings?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Not really. I mean, I had many foster siblings, but Ollie is the only one I call family. He always looked after me when we were kids and I guess he still does." She smiled and took a sip out of her mug. "I guess I still act like a little girl sometimes, expecting him to fix all my problems. Like the thing with my jerk boss, I should have just kicked his ass."

"What thing?"

She let out a giggle and explained how her boss had harassed her the night she had met Sam, Dean and Castiel.

"Funny, that felt like the end of the world few nights ago, but now…"

"The guy's a douche," Sam snorted. " _I_ can kick his ass if you want."

She laughed and touched his hand.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. You're a good guy, Sam."

"Not really," he muttered and looked at his mug.

"Yes, you are. I've met enough jerks to know."

He bit his bottom lip before looking up.

"I've done some bad things, Mia. Very bad things. You see, Lucifer…"

"Hey!" Dean's voice cut in. "What's going on here?"

"Oh hi," Mia said. "We were just having a little snack…"

"And you didn't wait for me?" Dean sighed dramatically while marching in. "I'm offended."

"I made extra sandwiches," Mia replied and waved her hand towards the kitchen countertop. "Help yourself."

"Don't mind if I do," Dean replied and grabbed the rest of the sandwiches before sitting next to Sam.

"Do you want a cup of tea?" Mia asked.

"No thanks, sweetheart. A beer would be great."

Sam rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you get your own…"

"It's no trouble," Mia cut in, she sounded amused. She picked up a beer can out of the fridge and placed it in front of Dean.

"Thanks," he said smiling charmingly.

"You're welcome. I think I'll take a quick shower."

"Sure, go ahead," Sam replied.

"What did you think you were doing?" Dean whispered as soon as Mia had gone to the bathroom.

Sam frowned.

"What?"

"I heard you; you were going to tell her everything."

"Not everything, I just…"

What, he really wasn't sure. He had just felt the urge to talk to her, tell her about his connection to Lucifer. Why, he had no idea.

"Look, Sammy," Dean sighed. "I like her, she got the bloodstains out of my favorite shirt, but we have to keep in mind that we don't know what she is."

"Yeah, I know, but…"

Sam didn't have time to finish his sentence when both he and Dean jumped to their feet. Mia was screaming.


	9. Personal space

**Chapter 8**

 **Personal space**

Mia stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom for a brief moment before she undressed. The first thing that stood out, as always, was the big ugly scars on her stomach. She had more of them on her back; they had always made her very self-conscious. She simply had thought that no one could ever find her attractive, especially after the boys in school had laughed at the picture of her scars. They had called her ugly, hideous, gross, disgusting, Quasimodo, the bride of Frankenstein and so on. She had hated her own reflection for a long time after that.

Nowadays she had accepted her body the way it was, but she still wasn't comfortable letting anyone see her naked. For some reason she had tried dating few times, but it had never worked out, no one had wanted to deal with her issues. Not that she could blame them, she certainly wasn't the easiest person in the world. Not to mention she had the mark of the devil on her chest. She had tried not to think about what that could mean, but Sam had assured that she wasn't some kind of monster.

He should know, he had told her that he and Dean had hunted monsters with their dad ever since they had been kids. That had sounded very strange to Mia, children shouldn't experience something like that, but she hadn't said anything, she hadn't wanted to insult Sam. Mia really liked him and Dean too. The angel wasn't so bad either, although she was still a little cautious around him. Still she would have never thought that she could be comfortable staying in a small cottage with three men she had just met few days ago. She just didn't find them, especially Sam, intimidating and it was kind of nice to look after someone after spending so much time by herself.

She had used to look after her mom a lot and in her foster home the children have had a schedule for the household chores, cooking, cleaning, washing the dishes and so on. It was nice to cook for someone who appreciated it and didn't complain. She was just about to step behind the shower curtain when she saw a glimpse of a man through the mirror. Her first reaction was instinctive; she screamed and turned around as quickly as she could. Castiel was standing only few inches away from her.

"I apologize if I startled you," he stated calmly. "I need to ask you few questions…"

"I'm naked!" she snapped and tried to cover her breasts with her arms.

"Yes, I can see that. About those questions…"

"Get out!" she shouted and shoved him, she was too angry to care that he could see her breasts.

"Mia!" Sam's voice called before he kicked the door open, Dean was right behind him. Oh great…

They both froze for a moment and stared at her, she sighed and grabbed the towel, although there really wasn't any point, they had already seen everything there was to see.

"Could you all please get out?"

Sam cleared his throat and looked down.

"Yes…yes, of course. Come on, Cas."

"But I need…"

"Not now."

"Very well," Castiel replied, he hadn't turned his eyes away from Mia. "I will wait outside."

"How considerate of you," she huffed. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Sorry about this," Sam muttered.

"Yeah, but if it's any consolation…" Dean started and grinned. "Wow."

"Dean," Sam snapped. "Again, sorry."

Mia bit her bottom lip when they closed the door behind them; she felt the need to break into a snigger. It took a moment before she managed to step under the shower and turn the water on. That should have been one of the most embarrassing moments of her life and of course it had been, but… They hadn't laughed or looked disgusted. But then again, maybe they had just been polite. Yes, that must be it. She took a quick shower, got dressed and took her time to brush her hair before she was ready to face them. All three of them were in the living room; Sam had a guilty look on his face.

"Listen, Mia… We're very sorry…"

"It's okay," she replied. "You didn't do that on purpose." She paused and glanced at Castiel. "I think."

"I told you, I only wanted to ask you few questions…"

"Personal space, Cas," Dean huffed. "We've talked about that many times."

"Yes," Castiel replied and looked at Mia. "I apologize again."

She nodded.

"I accept your apology. Maybe we can just pretend that none of that ever happened."

"Oh, I don't know if that…" Dean started. "Sure we can," he finished when Sam glared at him.

"Okay, good. I think I'll go and wash the dishes…"

She didn't have time to finish her sentence when Dean's phone started to ring.

"Yeah?" he answered. "Speaking… What? How bad? Uh huh… Yeah… Yeah, I'm on my way."

He looked tense when he hung up.

"Bobby's in the hospital."

"What?" Sam gasped. "Is he…"

"Some kind of complication, we need to go there right now."

Sam had mentioned this Bobby; it wasn't difficult to tell how important he was to the both brothers.

"Do you want me to go with you…" Mia started.

"No," Dean cut in and glanced at Castiel. "Can you stay with her?"

"Of course," he replied.

"Thanks."

Dean was already on his way to the door, but Sam stepped in front of Mia.

"I'm sorry, but we have to…"

"I understand," she cut in and touched his shoulder. "I hope your friend is going to be okay."

"I hope so too," Sam muttered gloomily.

* * *

Few hours later

"Do you want me to drive?" Sam asked.

"No," Dean replied simply and continued humming Metallica's Enter Sandman. They had listened to Metallica for couple of hours now, but Sam hadn't said anything, he could see how tense Dean was.

"I'm sure Bobby's fine," Sam continued after a moment of silence.

"Yeah."

Obviously Dean wasn't in a talkative mood. Neither was Sam, so he gave up and looked outside, lost in his thoughts. It would be morning soon, they were almost there. Sam closed his eyes and tried to clear his head. Of course he was worried about Bobby and he shouldn't be thinking about anything else, but he kept finding himself thinking about something else. Someone else. Seeing her naked had been… No, he needed to stop this right now. What the hell was wrong with him? Why couldn't he get her out of his mind? Stop it…

"Hello, boys," a familiar voice suddenly said from the backseat, making Dean to hit the breaks. Crowley.


	10. I come in peace

**Thank you for the reviews, favs and alerts. The story is mostly AU, it doesn't follow the episodes.**

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

 **I come in peace**

"So…" Mia started after an awkward silence. Sam and Dean had just left and she was now alone with the angel who was standing next to the sofa, calmly observing her. "I guess you don't want something to eat?"

"I don't eat," he replied.

"Right, I remember. And you don't sleep either. That must save you a lot of time."

"Yes."

They were both quiet again, but the angel didn't seem in any way uncomfortable, he simply kept looking at her.

"Right then… I'll just go and wash the dishes."

He followed her to the kitchen and sat at the table when she started washing the dishes.

"I hope it's nothing serious," she said after a moment of silence. Even though her back was turned, she still felt the need to start some kind of conversation. "I mean Sam's and Dean's friend."

"He was stabbed a while ago," Castiel replied. "He lost his ability to walk."

Mia turned to look at him.

"That's terrible. Did..did they find the person who attacked him?"

"He stabbed himself. He was possessed by a demon."

"Oh… Naturally," she muttered and turned back to the sink. "I guess you know a lot about demons."

"Yes."

She hesitated for a moment before turning to look at him again.

"Listen… Can I ask you something?"

He looked at her calmly.

"Go ahead."

She bit her bottom lip and hesitated again, unsure of how to form her question.

"If…if I would be some kind of demon, could you see that?"

"Yes," he replied. "You're not a demon."

"Yeah, Sam said that, but…" She paused and sighed. "Okay, I'm going to be honest with you because I think that you're not going to sugar coat things."

He looked confused.

"I don't know what that means."

"Oh, it means that you're not going to lie or say things "the nice way" to spare my feelings."

She walked over to the table and sat down opposite him.

"The truth is that I'm scared," she said quietly. "I've tried not to show it to Sam and Dean, they've been great and everything, but…" She paused and took a deep breath. "I would like to hear your honest opinion. What do you think the devil wants with me?"

The angel looked at her calmly with his bright blue eyes. There was something strangely soothing about his look.

"I don't know the answer to that. What I can tell you is that you're not a demon, but you're not completely a human either. There is something hidden inside of you."

Her eyes widened.

"What?" she gasped. "What something?"

"That I don't know. You are very well protected; I can't look inside of you."

Mia tried to understand what he was saying, but it didn't make much sense to her.

"Protected by whom?"

"By Lucifer, I assume."

"Right…Right… The devil wants to protect me. Why would he…"

She didn't finish her sentence; she didn't think that she wanted to hear the answer to that.

"You have his mark, which indicates that you are valuable property to him. None of the archangels would mark an object that wouldn't be valuable…"

"Woah, woah," she cut in. "Property?"

"Yes."

Mia had no idea what to think, she was shaking her head.

"No, no, I'm not anyone's property." She paused and glared at Castiel tensely. "I'm not an object."

"I didn't mean to offend you," he replied. "I simply told you what the mark means."

"Uh huh…" she murmured and stood up. "I'm just going to…"

She felt that she couldn't breathe; she needed to get some fresh air. The night air felt a little chilly when she opened the front door and stepped out into the porch. She was only wearing the t-shirt and the pajama pants, but the coldness didn't bother her. For a moment she simply took deep breaths and looked at the starry sky. It looked nice when there was no light pollution. She startled when something was suddenly wrapped around her shoulders. A blanket.

"Thank you," she muttered.

"You're welcome," Castiel replied.

They were both quiet for a long while before she spoke.

"So…what was it you wanted to ask me earlier?"

"I need more information about your family," he responded. "Especially about your father. I was able to track down your mother's bloodline and as far as I can tell, she was completely a human."

"I don't know anything about my father," she muttered. "Not even his name. My mom refused to tell me anything about him."

"Is there anyone else who might know something?"

Mia thought about it for a moment.

"I don't think so; my mom didn't really have friends. But maybe…"

"Yes?"

"My grandma. I've never actually met her; she was very religious so she kicked my mom out when she became pregnant. Mom was 17 back then, she never forgave her mom and I really can't blame her. Maybe grandma knew who my dad was, but I have no idea if she's even alive…"

"She is," Castiel cut in. "I know where she lives."

Mia really wasn't sure how to react to that. She had never considered her grandmother as her family and she was pretty sure that the feeling was mutual. According to Mia's mom, her grandmother had been far from a warm and loving woman, she hadn't even come to her own daughter's funeral. Mia hadn't wanted to have anything to do with someone like that.

"You need to talk to her in case she has any useful information," Castiel stated. "When Sam and Dean return. She doesn't live very far."

"I highly doubt that she wants to talk with me," Mia huffed. "And after how she treated my mom…"

"I understand, but this is important."

Mia sighed and gave up.

"Fine."

Why not, it wasn't like things could get much worse. Apparently she was the devil's property and she wasn't really a human. Her life was just freaking perfect.

* * *

Sam acted immediately; he had the knife in his hand before Dean had stopped the Impala. Unfortunately Crowley was gone before Sam managed to get to him.

"Where did that bastard go…" Dean started when someone knocked on the window. Crowley was smiling and waving at him.

"Son of a…"

"Easy," Crowley said as soon as Dean opened the door. "I come in…" He disappeared again when Sam tried to stab him. "…peace," he finished while appearing behind them. "Oh come on," he huffed when Sam tried again. "Just hear me out, I think you boys owe me that much."

"Oh really?" Dean snorted. "You think we owe you for setting us up?"

"I didn't set you up… Could you stop that?"

Crowley kept dodging Sam's attempts to stab him, Dean could see how angry his brother was.

"Sammy."

"No, I'm not going to listen to anything he has to say," Sam snapped. "This bastard tricked us!"

"No, I didn't. I gave you the Colt; it wasn't my fault that it didn't work. Do you honestly think that I would have purposely arranged myself on the top of Lucifer's 'people to torture for all the eternity' list?"

"Sam," Dean said and crossed his arms. "What do you want, Crowley?"

The demon smiled.

"I want to make a deal with you. The word on the street is that you boys have been very naughty. You stole something from the big guy himself and he's certainly not pleased."

"How sad," Dean huffed. "Is that all?"

"No, as I said, I want to make a deal. I want to buy what you stole. You know I can give you whatever you want, just like that. The best part is that there won't be any timeline; you can keep your souls. I'll even throw in a brand new pair of legs for the good old Bobby. Hell, I'm feeling generous, new legs for everyone! Extra long for the Moose, of course."

"I think we'll pass," Dean snorted. "But thanks for the offer."

Crowley frowned.

"Come on…"

"We're leaving now."

Crowley was gone before Sam managed to stab him.

"Damn it," Sam muttered.

"Yeah, he seemed pretty desperate."

Dean was too distracted to ponder about the whole thing more; all he cared about was getting to Bobby as quickly as possible. It didn't take long when they arrived at the hospital where Bobby was supposed to be, but it turned out that he wasn't there.

" _Yeah?"_ Bobby's voice answered when Dean called one of his cells.

"Bobby, where are you?"

" _At home. Where else, idjit, I can't walk remember?"_

What…

"Sam and I are at the hospital in Sioux Falls; this nurse called me and said that you've had some complications or something."

" _No, I've been at home the whole time."_

"Right… It's looks like we've been screwed."


	11. Guardian angel

**Thank you for the reviews, favs and alerts. About the pairing (if there'll be any), you'll have to wait and see :) Suggestions are welcome.**

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

 **Guardian angel**

"Please…"

Lucifer crossed his arms and looked outside through the window of his hotel suite.

"Please…"

"Enough already," Lucifer snorted and turned to look at the pathetic human sitting on a chair. He was in a bad shape, but he could only blame himself.

"So, Mr. Ludlow," Lucifer said smiling. "What have we learned today?"

"I'm sorry," the man sobbed. "I'm sorry."

"Yes, you should be. You see, no one touches what's mine."

"I'm sor…"

The man didn't have time to finish his sentence when Lucifer broke his neck with the wave of his hand. That had felt good, for a moment he had almost forgot his anger and frustration.

"Someone clean up this mess!" he demanded. "And I want some news!"

Two demons came in as quickly as they could, one of them started to drag the dead human out. The other one was clearly nervous, which meant that he didn't have any news.

"We…we're looking, sir, and we have a lead."

Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

"A lead? Really?"

"Yes, sir. The Winchesters have been spotted in South Dakota."

"Just them? Not Mia?"

The demon shook his head.

"No, sir, just them."

"Do you know where they are now?"

The demon looked even more nervous.

"No, sir, but I'm confident we'll…"

Lucifer had absolutely no patience left, no more than a second later the demon's meat suit was lying dead on the floor. Furiously Lucifer marched towards the second bedroom, which was next to the master bedroom, he needed to calm down. The second bedroom had been decorated with same colors and style than Mia's apartment, her clothes and personal things had been brought here. The dream catcher had been hung above the king-size bed and the tiger was on the bed waiting for her. She would like the room, he was sure of it. Now he just needed to find her.

* * *

Human feelings had always been more or less a mystery to Castiel. Most of them were very illogical and therefore impractical. Castiel had tried his best to learn how to understand them in order to make the communication with humans easier. It wasn't that angels wouldn't be able to feel, they did, but their feelings were different than humans'. They were clearer, unembellished and most of all, they made sense. Humans allowed their feelings to affect their actions all the time, angels didn't. At least most angels didn't. Castiel had always considered himself as a good soldier, but he didn't believe in blind obedience.

Rebelling against Heaven had no doubt been the most difficult decision he had ever made and he had to admit that he probably wouldn't have done it if he would have never met the Winchesters. He had countless of brothers and sisters, but he had never before felt that he would have a family. Of course these were disturbingly humanly thoughts. He concentrated on observing the girl who had curled up on the sofa under the blanket. She was watching television and she seemed much calmer now, not emotional at all. Perhaps she was too tired to be emotional.

He understood that some of the things he had told her had upset her, but she had asked for honesty. As far as Castiel could tell, she was a nice person, but that didn't change the fact that she could be a threat. Right now it was Castiel's first priority to find out what she was exactly and why did Lucifer want her. There was a small chance that she could be indeed used against Lucifer to end the whole apocalypse before it would even get started. Lucifer didn't have many weaknesses, but was it possible that she was one?

Still Castiel had no intention to let the other angels get their hands on her; they would no doubt use very brutal methods to find out what was hidden inside her. She didn't deserve something like that. They had both been quiet for a long while, but that didn't really bother Castiel. What bothered him was the uncertainness; he had no idea what he was supposed to do. She didn't seem upset, sad, angry or anything like that, but there was something wrong with her.

The sun had risen hours ago and the girl hadn't slept at all. Instead she had cleaned; although the whole place already looked more than clean to Castiel. Now she was staring at the television, but it seemed that she wasn't really watching it. Fortunately Sam and Dean were already on their way back. Dean had called few hours ago to make sure that everything was alright; apparently someone had tricked them to go to South Dakota. Finally Mia glanced at Castiel and sighed.

"Okay, enough," she huffed. "Just come and sit here."

"Why?" Castiel asked, he was sitting on the armchair.

"Because I don't want you to sit there and stare at me. Sit here and watch the TV. Please."

Castiel couldn't really understand her request, but he still stood up and sat down on the sofa.

"Thank you," she muttered.

"You're welcome."

They were both quiet again; it was no problem for Castiel to sit quietly for hours or longer if that was necessary. The whole concept of time was very different to him than to humans. He observed the perky looking smiling woman on the television screen; she was telling how much better her life was now when she had found Easy Slim. Castiel had no idea what that was and the matter didn't really interest him. Mia seemed absentminded; she was staring at the television with sleepy eyes. Clearly she was very tired, but for some reason she didn't go to sleep.

"Can I ask you a question?" she muttered.

"Sure."

"Is there Heaven?"

"Yes."

She was quiet for a brief moment before continuing.

"What's it like?"

"Home."

"You live there?"

"I did," Castiel replied, he kept his voice free from emotion.

"Did?"

"I rebelled, so I am not welcome there anymore."

Mia got into a sitting position and looked at him.

"But… I thought that God is forgiving…Is there God?"

"Yes," Castiel replied.

Mia's eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Yes."

The whole subject was more sensitive to Castiel than he had realized, but his face remained stoic.

"Is He…"

"I have never met Him, so I can't answer any of your questions."

Apparently Mia picked up the tension in Castiel's voice.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Castiel didn't say anything; he really didn't want to think about his creator or his father, who had abandoned him and all his siblings.

"I didn't mean to be nosy," Mia continued. "I just… Angels have always interested me."

"What do you mean?"

She shrugged.

"I guess I've always wanted to believe in angels. When I was a child I pictured them as kind and loving creatures who were always watching over me when nobody else was." She paused and huffed. "Yes, I know that's pathetic. Sometimes I just…"

"What?" Castiel asked when she didn't continue.

"Nothing, it's ridiculous…"

"Please tell me."

Some instinct told Castiel that this was something important.

"Sometimes I felt that I really had a guardian angel." She paused and let out a nervous laugh. "I know it sounds stupid, but... My mom wasn't a very caring person and I spent a lot of time by myself when I was a child. Whenever I was sad, lonely or upset, I had these…dreams."

"Dreams?"

"Yes, in my dreams my guardian angel picked me up and comforted me, I felt his arms around me. He always made me feel safe."

The memory made her smile, but Castiel certainly wasn't smiling.

"You only had these dreams when you were a child?" he asked, his voice sounded perfectly calm.

"Yes, before the…car accident. I met my brother after that, so I guess I didn't need an imaginary friend anymore."

She yawned and stretched her arms before leaning back on her seat.

"I hate shopping channels…"

Castiel didn't say anything when she picked up the remote control; he had more important things on mind. Was it possible… No, Lucifer couldn't have appeared in her dreams from his cage. That wasn't possible. Or at least it shouldn't have been possible. And even if it would have been, the thought of Lucifer wanting to comfort a child was simply…absurd. What was this girl to him? She yawned again; it seemed that she was almost asleep. Her head leaned back, but slowly her body started to tilt towards Castiel. The next thing he realized was that her head was on his lap. She was already fast asleep, judging by her content sigh and her hand fluffing his leg, she thought that she had a pillow under her head.

For a moment he was unsure of what to do. Perhaps he should simply allow her to rest, humans needed to sleep. She did too, even though she wasn't completely a human. He held still and concentrated on making a clear plan. Her father could be the key; they needed to speak to her grandmother as soon as possible. They could be there within seconds, but according to Castiel's experience, humans didn't like to be "zapped", as Dean had called it. Patiently Castiel waited, he was aware that humans could sleep for hours. He wasn't sure how much time had passed when he heard the front door opening.

"Mia?" Sam's voice called before he entered the cottage. He froze when he saw her and Castiel on the sofa, she was still asleep.

"Hello, Sam," Castiel greeted him.

The look in his eyes was strange, for a fraction of a second Castiel could have sworn that he saw something very dark, almost animalistic.

"No one touches what's mine," Sam murmured.

Castiel stared at him.

"What?"

Sam blinked his eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"What did you just say?" Castiel asked.

Sam looked confused.

"I didn't say anything. How's Mia?"

Sam walked over to the sofa before Castiel managed to say anything.

"I think I better take her to bed, she looks uncomfortable." Sam paused briefly and carefully scooped Mia up; she sighed, but didn't wake up. "Could you go and help Dean?"

"Help him with what?" Castiel asked, he was still trying to understand what was going on with Sam.

Sam sighed tiredly.

"You'll see."


	12. Almost normal

**Chapter 11**

 **Almost normal**

Mia sighed when she felt someone carrying her, she was still half asleep.

"Where…where are you taking me?" she muttered sleepily. She didn't know who was carrying her, but for some reason she felt safe, as strange as that was.

"To the bed," Sam's voice replied. "You'll be more comfortable there."

Her mind was hazy, but she tried to open her eyes.

"Sam?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

She blinked sleepily and tried to unsuccessfully raise her head that was leaning on his shoulder. His arms weren't shaking or anything like that, but she felt embarrassed.

"You really don't have to carry me," she murmured. "I'm not that light."

"I think I can manage," he replied, he sounded amused.

Gently he laid her down on the bed, leaning over her while supporting himself with one knee on the mattress.

"Go back to sleep," he said, his fingers brushed softly over her cheek. The gesture made her to force her eyes open and look at him. He was smiling, just like he had before, but the look in his eyes was somehow different. She couldn't really explain it, but it made her feel strange. Warm. That made absolutely no sense. He was still positioned above her, but he wasn't touching her. She had never been in this kind of situation before, but she didn't find his closeness in any way intimidating. In fact, she wanted him to come closer; she wanted to feel him… Her heart was beating like a drum and she was breathing faster when his gaze was becoming more and more intense. His eyes… There was something strange about them… For a second she could have sworn that they were black. Slowly he leaned closer and was just about to touch her when a loud voice snapped them both out of it.

"You keep your hands to yourself, boy, or I'll shove them where the sun doesn't shine!" a male voice snapped. "Same to you, wing boy!"

Sam stood up as quickly as he could; he looked just as confused as Mia. A faint flush was rising in her cheeks, she had no idea what had just happened. Was she losing her mind? Somehow she managed to pull herself together faster than he did.

"Who's that?" she asked, her voice sounded almost normal. She really didn't want to talk about what had just happened. It seemed that Sam was feeling the same way.

"What? Oh, that's Bobby, our friend. We…we thought that it would be the best to bring him here with us after the whole…fake phone call thing."

"He doesn't sound very pleased," Mia stated.

The corners of Sam's mouth were twitching and he cleared his throat before replying.

"Yeah, you could say that."

Mia certainly wasn't tired anymore; she got into the sitting position and touched her hair.

"I must look like a mess," she muttered. "I wasn't prepared to…"

"No, no, you look very nice," Sam cut in. "I mean…"

"Thanks."

They were both quiet for a brief moment before she stood up. She couldn't help but to feel nervous, Sam's friend sounded to be in a very bad mood. Loud men had always frightened her, mostly because of Floyd. Her mind associated shouting with fear and violence. That was probably one of the reasons why she had problems letting anyone too close, she couldn't really handle conflicts and unfortunately those were unavoidable in any relationship. Still she managed to stay calm when she walked towards the door. Sam was right behind her, he didn't say anything. Dean and Castiel were in the living room with Bobby. Mia had to admit that she was a little surprised when she saw the man who was probably in his fifties; he was sitting in the wheelchair.

"I don't need any help…" he was just saying when he noticed Mia.

"Hi," she said as politely as she could.

"Bobby, Mia, Mia, Bobby," Dean introduced them, he seemed tense and tired.

"Hey," Bobby said, he was observing Mia closely. She suspected that he knew about the mark, Sam had told her that he was a hunter like him and Dean. None of them spoke for a while; Dean was the one who broke the awkward silence.

"So, I guess we need to make some new sleeping arrangements now," he stated grinning and looked at Mia. "Two of us will have to share a bed."

Until now Mia has had one bedroom for herself while Sam and Dean have had the other bedroom and the sofa. She had said that she could sleep in the sofa, but they had been too polite to agree to that. Not that she was complaining, she truly appreciated a little privacy.

"Well," Bobby huffed and glanced at Dean. "I hope you don't snore, boy, I need my beauty sleep. And I like to sleep naked."

Dean's expression almost made Mia burst into laughter.

"It's fine," she said after she managed to speak. "I can sleep in a sleeping bag or something…"

"No," Sam cut in. "We'll work something out; you'll sleep in the bed."

"It's nice to see that there's at least one gentleman around here," Bobby stated. "I hate to think what the poor girl has been through with you idjits."

Mia couldn't help but smile, she was really starting to like this man.

"Would you like something to eat or drink, sir?" she asked. "Maybe a cup of coffee?"

"Yeah, sounds good. And it's Bobby."

"Okay, sure." She paused and looked at Sam and Dean. "How about you?"

"Well, I would kill for a cup of coffee and a bacon sandwich," Dean responded. "Or maybe two. Or three."

Sam rolled his eyes, but Mia had no problem making sandwiches, she always felt calmer when she had some task to perform. That was probably one of the reasons behind her cleaning obsession; she had always had problems to simply sit around doing nothing, she quickly became restless.

"Okay."

"I'll come and help you," Sam said.

"You don't have to do that…"

"I want to."

She hesitated a brief moment before looking at him, fearing that things would be awkward after what had happened. Strangely she didn't feel awkward at all and neither did he; at least she didn't think so. Still she had no intention to bring the whole thing up, how could she when she couldn't even explain to herself what exactly have happened. From the corner of her eye she noticed Castiel staring at Sam, but she didn't find that weird, the angel had a habit of staring at people. Sam was smiling at her; he looked like his normal self. Everything was perfectly normal.


	13. Family meeting

**Chapter 12**

 **Family meeting**

Montana, 1 day later

"I'm not sure if I can do this," Mia murmured. The drive had been very long and she was tired, but most of all she was nervous. Meeting Deborah Harlow, her grandmother, for the first time wasn't something she was looking forward to.

"It's okay," Sam said and touched her hand reassuringly. He was sitting on the backseat with her. "We're not forcing you…"

"She needs to do this, " Castiel cut in firmly. "We need to know about her father."

"I know, I know," Mia sighed before Sam managed to say anything. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could do this. Determinedly she opened the car door and stepped outside.

"I can come with you…" Sam started, but she shook her head.

"I think I need to go by myself. She's my grandmother, so maybe she'll actually agree to talk to me."

Sam nodded.

"Okay. I…we'll be right here if you need us."

She gave him a nervous smile and a quick thank you before closing the door. Dean had parked the Impala few feet away from the old house. It was two-storey, gabled and had four-bay front, casement windows and a large porch. No doubt it had once been a very nice house, but now it looked mostly creepy. There weren't other houses anywhere near, only fields and few abandoned shacks. The barn next to the house didn't look very nice either. Mia was wearing a long floral print skirt and a beige sweater; she needed to look as decent as she could if she wanted her grandmother to talk to her.

The thought really irritated her; the last thing she wanted was trying to please the woman who had treated her mother so cruelly. Unfortunately she needed to forget her own feelings, this was much more important. Determinedly she marched to the front door and rang the doorbell. She had to wait for a while before the door opened and she saw a woman who was probably in her sixties. Her dark hair was partially grey; it was up in a tight bun. Her dark eyes were cold and piercing and her expression was nothing but harsh. She was wearing a black dress and a silver cross around her neck.

"Yes?" she asked harshly.

Mia tried her best to smile.

"Mrs. Harlow?"

"Yes. If you are selling something…"

"No, no, I'm not." she paused briefly before she managed to continue. "I'm Mia Harlow, Catherine's daughter. Your granddaughter."

The older woman's eyes narrowed, she tried to close the door.

"No, no, please wait," Mia said quickly and grabbed the door. "Mrs. Harlow please, I won't bother you for long, I just… I would like to ask you something."

"Let me guess," the woman snorted. "You want money. Well, your not getting a dime."

Mia had to really struggle to control herself.

"No, I don't want your money. Please, I just need to ask you one question."

The woman's eyes didn't soften at all; she looked at her granddaughter coldly.

"What might that be?"

Mia swallowed.

"I need to know who my father is."

Deborah Harlow pressed her lips together and tried to close the door again.

"Please!" Mia pleased desperately. "I…I'm pregnant!"

What? She had no idea where that had come from, but at least the woman didn't close the door.

"I'm pregnant and I really need to know about my father, for my child. I need to know if there are any genetic diseases or anything, please all I need is his name."

Mrs. Harlow stared at her piercingly.

"Are you having a bastard like your mother?"

"No, no," Mia replied quickly. "I'm married; my husband is waiting in the car."

The woman was quiet for a moment and stared at Mia and the Impala in turns.

"Who are these other men?" Mrs. Harlow asked sharply.

"My brother-in-laws," Mia replied without thinking.

"Why are they here?"

"We…we're a close family, they wanted to come and support me. They'll be the child's godfathers."

She had no idea what she was talking about, but hopefully this was working. All she needed was the damn name. Deborah Harlow was quiet for a while before speaking.

"Bring them here."

"Pardon?"

She crossed her arms and snorted.

"I want to meet this…family of yours."

"Sure."

Mia turned around and signaled the guys to come out.

"Honey!" she called as soon as Sam stepped outside. "My grandmother wants to meet my husband."

Why she had immediately chosen Sam to be her husband, she wasn't really sure. Yes, actually she was, but she tried not to think about it now.

"No problem," Dean said grinning and walked over to them. Sam gave his brother a murderous glare, but it was already too late. Mia got over her surprise quickly and smiled when Dean wrapped his arm casually around her waist. "Here I am, sweetie."

He probably thought that this was hilarious. Mrs. Harlow's gaze was more than piercing. Mia cleared her throat and quickly took Dean's hand.

"Mrs. Harlow, this is my husband Dean."

"It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am," Dean said smiling charmingly. "I can see who I can thank for my Mia's good looks."

Mrs. Harlow looked everything but pleased, Mia let out a tense laugh and kicked Dean's leg.

"Oh you. I told her about the baby."

Dean's eyes widened.

"What?"

"About our baby," Mia continued smiling and touched her belly.

"Oh, right… I'm going to be a daddy." He paused and looked at Sam. "Did you hear that, Sammy? Mia and I are going to have a baby."

Sam looked tense to say the least, but he forced a smile on his face.

"Yes, I heard that."

"Stop being silly, honey," Mia said tensely. "Of course your brothers already knew, they're going be the godfathers." She paused and looked at her grandmother. "These are my brother-in-laws Sam and Cas."

"Hello, ma'am," Sam greeted Mrs. Harlow politely. She observed him closely when Castiel spoke.

"We need to know her father's name," he stated. "It is possible that the future of mankind depend on it."

Mrs. Harlow looked at him disbelievingly.

"What?"

"He's just a little overdramatic," Mia said quickly. "He really, really cares about this baby, what he meant was that the baby's future can depend on it. If my father has some genetic disease."

Mrs. Harlow turned her eyes back to Dean.

"Are you a god-fearing man?"

"Yes, ma'am, absolutely," he replied.

"There is no reason to fear Him," Castiel stated. "It makes no difference to Him…"

"Cas!" Sam cut in, Mrs. Harlow was glaring at Castiel. "Why don't you go back to the car, you needed to make that phone call, didn't you?"

"No…"

"Yes, you did. You can wait in the car, we'll be right there."

"Very well," Castiel replied. "But we need to know…"

"Yes, we know."

"This is the kind of person you want to be your child's godfather?" Mrs. Harlow stated icily after Castiel had left.

"We're…still thinking about that," Mia replied. "But, Mrs. Harlow, please, about my father…"

"Your mother was a filthy little harlot," Mrs. Harlow snapped. "I have no idea who your father is."

Mia clenched her fists; she really wanted to defend her mother.

"She didn't say anything?"

"Oh she did," Mrs. Harlow snorted. "She dared to lie to me that she hadn't whored with anyone."

"She said that she was a virgin?" Sam asked.

"Yes. That was how corrupted she was, daring to claim something like that. No doubt her tainted soul is burning in hell now…"

"How can you say something like that?" Mia snapped. "She was your daughter!"

"She was a sinner who refused to confess her sins. She was no daughter of mine."

Mia's hands were shaking when her grandmother marched inside and slammed the door shut. Sam walked over to Mia and touched her shoulder.

"Hey…"

"Demon!" a male voice suddenly shouted. She looked up and saw a man who was probably in his mid thirties. He looked a lot like Mia's mother; he had dark hair and dark eyes. He was aiming at Mia with a shotgun.

"You…" he snarled. "Demon!"

Sam stepped immediately in front of Mia.

"Woah, woah!" Dean said. "Easy now, buddy."

The man was shaking and tears were coursing down his cheeks.

"That thing destroyed my sister's life!" he shouted. "Cathy was a sweet and innocent girl! She never slept with any man! That thing's a demon! Antichrist!"

"Hey, take it easy…" Sam started.

The man burst into a hysterical laughter.

"I've been waiting for this for so long. Now that thing dies."


	14. Mommy dearest

**Thank you for the reviews, favs and alerts. No, Mia isn't Lucifer's daughter. She actually meant Sam to be her "husband", Dean just cut in to annoy Sam. Sorry for writing that part unclearly.**

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

 **Mommy dearest  
**

 _22 years earlier_

 _"How beautiful, the hands that served the wine and the bread and the sons of the earth. How beautiful, the feet that walked the long dusty roads, and the hill to the cross. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful, is the body of Christ. How beautiful, the heart that bled, that took all my sin and bore it instead. How beautiful, the tender eyes that choose to forgive and never despise. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful, is the body of Christ…"_

 _For the first time in a very, very long time, demon Azazel had entered a small church. Despite of what some people thought, demons were able to enter a church if they wanted to. Personally Azazel had nothing against churches; he had always taken pleasure watching the hypocrisy they stood for. Humans trying to convince to themselves and most of all to the others that they weren't wicked and corrupted, they didn't lie, cheat, steal and so on when they bothered to spend an hour a week in "the house of Lord". Pathetic._

 _According to Azazel's experience, humans were capable of being just as bad as demons. Well, some humans. Now he stared at the young woman who was wearing a chaste coral dress, she was singing in front of the altar. She had immediately caught his attention; he could easily see how innocent she was. Most definitely a virgin. Beautiful and pure in every way. She was perfect; exactly what he had been looking for._

 _"Excuse me," he said to the woman who was sitting next to him. "Do you know who this lovely young lady is? She sings like an angel."_

 _The woman glanced at Azazel and smiled. It was because of his meat suit, a sweet harmless old lady._

 _"That's Catherine Harlow. Her father was a pastor here before he passed away."_

 _"Oh dear, poor girl."_

 _"Yes, we were all devastated to lose him, he was a good man, bless his soul." The woman paused and nodded towards the front row._

 _"The lady in black is his widow and the young man is his son. Sweet little Davy just adores Catherine."_

 _"How nice," Azazel replied, he couldn't have cared less. He had already heard everything he needed to know. Catherine Harlow… Azazel's lips curved into a smile. Oh yes, she was absolutely perfect. His father would surely be pleased._

* * *

"Sam…" Mia murmured, she was too shocked to move. Yet she couldn't let Sam to get shot because of her.

"Out of the way!" the man with the shotgun demanded. "I only want her!"

"No," Sam replied firmly. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Sammy…" Dean started tensely and looked at the gunman. "Listen, we can work this out…"

"Shut up!" the man shouted, he was shaking. "Shut up, shut up, shut up! I need to kill the demon…" He paused and let out a hysterical laughter. "Kill the demon. Yes, that's what I need to do…"

"She's not a demon," Castiel's calm voice stated.

The man startled, unsure of who to aim with the shotgun.

"Yes, she is! My sister…My poor sweet Cathy…"

Fresh tears were filling his eyes; he let out few loud sobs.

"What happened to your sister?" Castiel asked calmly.

The man was quiet for a brief moment before replying.

"She was the sweetest, most innocent girl there was. She would have never… Not before marriage." He paused and shook his head. "She told me that she had never slept with anyone and she never lied to me. Something terrible happened to her, it ruined her life. She wasn't my Cathy anymore." He paused again and glared at Mia. "That thing ruined her life. I need to kill it, what kind of creature can be born without… She's evil; she turned my sweet innocent Cathy into…into a whore."

Mia was unable to speak, this was definitely too much.

"David!" Mrs. Harlow snapped, she had just opened the door. "Put the gun away, right now!"

Her son pouted his lips, like a child who wanted desperately to defy his parents.

"But mother… This thing… I need to kill it…Cathy…"

"Enough," Mrs. Harlow cut in, her tone of voice was freezing. "Your sister was a filthy whore. Say it."

He shook his head and let out a sob.

"Mommy, please…"

"Say it!"

"My sister was a filthy whore," he muttered and dropped the gun, his hands were shaking violently. Mrs. Harlow looked at him coldly.

"Now go to your room and pray, boy."

He walked inside without saying a word. Mrs. Harlow glanced at Mia.

"Leave. I never want to see you again."

"My mom wasn't a whore," Mia hissed through clenched teeth before her grandmother managed to turn her back on her. "She was a young woman who tried her best to survive after her heartless bitch of a mother abandoned her."

Mrs. Harlow's eyes narrowed.

"How dare you…"

Mia let out a cold laughter.

"You know what, grams, mom told me about you, but I never knew how right she was. You're a horrible person and if anyone's soul is going to burn in hell, it's going to be yours."

Mrs. Harlow's eyes remained nothing but cold when she glared at Mia.

"For his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants."

Mia wasn't very familiar with the Bible, but she recognized this verse from the Book of Revelation.

"Whatever," she snorted and took Sam's hand. "Let's go."

"A whore like your mother," Mrs. Harlow hissed.

"Yeah, I am," Mia replied defiantly and slapped Sam's bottom. His eyes widened. "I'm sleeping with all of them. It's great, you should try sometimes."

She kept her head high and marched towards the Impala, Sam was right behind her.

"Your Bible is in many ways incorrect," Mia heard Castiel saying. "God has never been interested in your mating habits and He is not obsessed with them as you people seem to think. Good day."

"Yeah," Dean added. "What he said."

Mia felt the need to burst into a hysterical laughter, but somehow she managed to get in the car. Sam touched her shoulder when he sat next to her.

"Are you…"

She shook her head.

"Not really."

"Geez…" Dean muttered while starting the car. "Humans…"

Mia was quiet for a while; she had no idea what to think. Apparently she didn't have a father and she had ruined her mother's life. And her uncle's as well. Her mother had never mentioned that she had a brother; Mia felt nothing but sympathy for the poor guy. Being alone with that woman for so many years… It would no doubt drive anyone insane. But the most important question was how she could exist if she didn't have a father.

"How…" she finally murmured. "I don't understand…"

"It's okay," Sam said and took her hand. She was nothing but grateful for his gesture. "Cas?" Sam added.

"This seems to be more complicated than I thought," the angel replied, his voice didn't hold any emotion.

"Yeah," Mia muttered. "You could say that. How can I exist?"

"There are some ways for a woman to become pregnant without intercourse," Castiel replied. "Unfortunately none of those ways seems to apply to you."

"Now what then?" Dean asked.

Castiel seemed tense.

"I am not sure. I can't read her mark like an archangel could, but…"

"Wait, wait," Dean cut in. "An archangel could tell what she is?"

"Possibly, but taking her to Michael would be…"

"I wasn't talking about Michael. We know another archangel don't we? And he happens to owe me one."

Castiel frowned.

"You can't be serious, we can't trust Gabriel."

"The guy's a dick, I'm not denying that, but he doesn't want this whole apocalypse thing any more than we do…"

"What?" Mia gasped. "Did you just say apocalypse?"

There was suddenly very quiet in the car.

"Sam?" Mia asked firmly.

He cleared his throat before speaking.

"Yeah, there's going to be an apocalypse if we don't stop it. But we're going to stop it, no matter what it takes."


	15. A thing for the Cookie Monster

**Chapter 14**

 **A thing for the Cookie Monster**

"Dean," Sam huffed. "I'm serious. Please go and grab a beer."

Dean frowned.

"Look, Sammy, I get that you like her, but…"

"She has had a rough day," Sam cut in firmly. "Just give us a moment."

Dean rolled his eyes and raised his hands in surrender.

"Fine, but make it quick."

Sam sighed when Dean closed the door behind him. They had decided to stay in a motel for the night; the drive back to the cabin would have taken hours. Castiel had gone to make some arrangements for summoning Gabriel, although he had still pointed out that he hadn't liked this plan at all. Sam wasn't sure if he liked it either, he wanted to keep Mia safe. It was kind of strange how protective he felt of her, he really couldn't explain it himself. Some small voice in the back of his head kept telling that it was all because of Lucifer, but he didn't want to believe that.

Couldn't it be possible that he simply liked her because she was a sweet beautiful girl? Who just happened to have Lucifer's mark on her chest… And he just happened to be Lucifer's vessel. No, this wasn't because of that. At least so he kept telling to himself. He took a deep breath and sat down on an armchair, Mia was just taking a shower. It didn't take long when the bathroom door opened and she stepped outside. Her dark hair was soaking wet and she was wearing a pale blue Cookie Monster nightie with the text "Me Love Cookies" printed on the front. For a moment Sam couldn't do anything but stare at her, the corners of his mouth were twitching.

"Go ahead," Mia sighed. "You can laugh if you want."

Sam cleared his throat.

"What? No, no, you look…cute."

The truth was that she looked more than cute, she looked hot. What? Yes, she looked damn hot wearing a Cookie Monster nightie. What the hell was wrong with him?

"Right, sure," Mia snorted. "You can thank Castiel for this." She paused and looked around. "Where's Dean?"

"He went to grab a beer," Sam replied.

"Oh. That's probably for the best; I think I need a moment to prepare for his 'funny' comments."

Sam smiled.

"Yeah, he often likes to think he's funny."

They were both quiet for a brief moment; Mia was biting her bottom lip.

"Listen… I want to apologize for what happened today," she murmured.

"What do you mean?"

"You know…the whole…slapping you thing. I just… that woman really…"

"It's okay," Sam said and stood up. "I understand, no need to apologize."

Slowly Mia looked up and smiled.

"What you did today… Stood between me and someone who was going to shoot me… No matter what happens, I'll never forget that, Sam. Never."

"It was nothing," Sam murmured, the grateful look in her eyes made him feel uncomfortable.

"It was something," she argued. "After everything that had happened, the devil, the apocalypse, me not having a dad, this nightie, I have no idea how I could have handled it all without you. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

He swallowed and slowly walked over to her. She blinked her eyes nervously when he touched her hair.

"Mia… I… I would like to kiss you. Please tell me if you don't want that."

A flush was rising in her cheeks when she nodded.

"I do."

So did he. More than he had ever wanted anything in his life. Gently he cupped her chin and raised her head. She looked a little nervous, but she smiled at him. She was almost a head shorter than him, so he needed to lean down.

"You're beautiful," he murmured and pulled her into his arms, drawing her tight against him. Her body tensed at first, making him to loose his embrace a bit. He wanted to make sure that it didn't feel too tight or forceful to her. Feeling her warmth and softness almost made him to lose control; he hadn't truly realized how much he wanted this until this moment. Gently he took her mouth with his own, brushing her lips lightly with his. She tasted amazing, but he forced himself to keep the kiss gentle until he felt her relaxing in his embrace. His hands rested on her hips when she pushed up on her toes and twined her arms around the back of his neck, pulling his head down.

Her body had completely melted against him and her lips had softened to perfectly fit his. Slowly he deepened the kiss, teasing the outline of her lips with the tip of his tongue. Judging by her body's reaction, she liked it. She opened her mouth against his and gave his tongue an access without hesitation. He let out a groan when she sunk her fingers into his hair and stroked his tongue with her own. His hand had already taken a hold of the back of her head while his other one had grabbed her by the waist, keeping her in place. It was some kind of strange primal reaction; he needed to make sure that she wasn't going anywhere. They were both out of breath when their lips finally parted; she wrapped her legs around his waist when he lifted her up. Neither of them spoke when he carried her to the bed and gently laid her down. She was panting heavily when he took a moment to enjoy the sight of her.

"You're so beautiful, Mia."

She looked a little shy when she let out a nervous giggle.

"Wearing this nightie?"

He smiled and lied down beside her.

"Absolutely," he replied and trailed his fingers over her arm.

She rolled on her side to face him.

"Please don't tell me that you have thing for the Cookie Monster," she said smiling.

He laughed and softly touched her neck with his lips.

"Maybe."

She shivered when he wrapped his arms tightly around her and his lips found her rapidly beating pulse point. She let out a moan when he sucked it; his hands were caressing her back on their way to her waist. Her body was very responsive; he could easily tell how she liked to be touched. She almost jumped when his fingers caressed the sensitive skin on the back of her knee.

"Sorry," she murmured. "I'm a little ticklish."

"Good to know," he replied innocently, making her to playfully slap his chest.

"Don't you dare."

He smiled and took her mouth with his own; she was eagerly kissing him back. Slowly he slid his hand up her thigh and started to pull the hem of her nightie up. Her whole body tensed immediately when his fingers reached her stomach and touched her scars.

"It's okay," he said calmingly and stroked her hair. That didn't make her to relax, she looked distressed.

"You're beautiful," he continued. "I would like to show that to you if you let me."

She looked at him insecurely.

"Sam…I…"

"Can you trust me?"

She nodded, but her body was still tense. Slowly he moved lower and lifted her nightie. She flinched when he gently kissed her scars.

"You really don't have to…" she murmured. "I don't expect…"

"You're beautiful," he repeated firmly and continued kissing her stomach until she started slowly to relax. She was breathing heavily and blinking her eyes when he raised his head. Shyly she smiled at him when he lied down beside her and touched her reddened cheek.

"Did that feel alright?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Yes, thank you."

She was relaxed when he continued kissing her and caressing her body, but she tensed again when his fingers eventually reached the edging of her panties. Unfortunately he was too occupied to notice that, he had never wanted any woman like he wanted her. He simply needed to have her.

"Sam," she said in a small voice. "I need to tell you something."

"Sure, go ahead," he murmured, his lips were sucking her neck.

"I…I've never done this."

"Done what?" he asked absentmindedly, at the moment he was unable to comprehend her words.

"You know…have sex."

His eyes widened when he understood what she had just said, he raised his head and looked at her. She was smiling insecurely.

"We can still do this if you want; I just…wanted to warn you in case you wonder why I'm so…bad."

All he could do was curse himself for not noticing something so obvious, even a blind person could have seen this. For some incomprehensible reason the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. Clearly she wasn't ready for this, how could she be when they had just moments ago kissed for the first time. Gently he touched her cheek and kissed her forehead.

"We're not going to do this tonight," he said. "Not here. You definitely deserve something better than a sleazy motel room."

She looked concerned.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"Mia," he said firmly and cupped her face. "I know things have been crazy and we have a lot of problems to deal with, but please believe me when I say that I'm not going anywhere. I want to be with you and I'm hoping you feel the same way."

She was quiet for a brief moment before replying.

"You mean…you want to be my boyfriend?"

He hadn't really thought of it like that, but basically that was what he had meant. He wanted her very badly.

"Yeah, I do."

"Right…Okay then."

He raised his eyebrows.

"Okay then?"

She burst into laughter.

"Yeah. I don't like meaningless chitchat."

"Works for me." He paused and kissed her. "Do you want to watch TV?"

"Sure."

She snuggled against him when he turned the TV on; he wrapped an arm around her. He wasn't completely sure what had just happened, but he wasn't complaining. Feeling her so close made him feel calm. Mia sighed tiredly; Sam could tell that she was almost asleep when Dean returned with Castiel.

"Cas…" Dean's tense voice said when the door opened.

Both Sam and Mia got into a sitting position.

"Hey," Mia greeted them.

Castiel was staring at Sam and Mia.

"Cas, this is ridiculous," Dean snorted.

The angel didn't say anything; he simply walked over to the bed.

"What's going on?" Sam asked.

"I would like to have a word with Mia," Castiel replied.

She looked a little confused, but she stood up.

"What is it?"

Castiel glanced at Sam and placed his hands on Mia's shoulders.

"I apologize in advance for this."

"What…"

The next thing Sam realized was that Castiel pulled Mia close and pressed his lips against hers. He was actually kissing her.


	16. The Winchester curse

**Chapter 15**

 **The Winchester curse**

"Thanks," Dean said and smiled at the pretty waitress who had just placed a beer in front of him.

"You're welcome," she replied smiling. Clearly she liked what she was seeing.

For a moment he considered a little flirt and then asking what time her shift would end, but as crazy as that was, he decided against it. Right now he needed to concentrate on something else entirely. Mia… Dean liked her, he couldn't deny that, but there were too many unanswered questions for his liking. First of all, what was this girl? Second of all, what was she to Lucifer? Third of all, how was Dean going to stop Sammy from getting hurt? Clearly his little brother liked her _a lot_ , but Dean had a nasty feeling that things weren't going to end well.

What if they would be forced to kill the girl? What if that would be the only way to stop the apocalypse? Of course Dean truly hoped that wouldn't happen, but… There were plenty of people, angels, demons and lord knew who else trying to get their hands on Mia. Could they really just keep her hidden for the rest of her life? That sounded very unlikely. Dean sighed and took a long gulp out of his stein. It seemed that all the Winchesters were simply cursed with relationships that ended with tragedy. Poor Sammy…

Dean couldn't help but to hope that his brother wouldn't have fallen for this girl. Sure she was a sweet girl and definitely not unpleasant to look at, but… Yes, there was always a damn but. Hopefully Gabriel would be able to tell what she was. And then what? What if he would say that she was dangerous, a weapon of some kind? There was no way Sam would simply accept that. Dean sighed again; the whole thing could turn out very ugly. He was so lost in his thoughts that he startled when his phone rang. Cas.

"Yeah?" Dean huffed.

" _Where are you?"_

"I'm at…" Dean paused and checked the bar's name, he hadn't really paid attention to it. "..Ray's Bar & Grill, it's right next to the motel…"

He didn't have time to finish his sentence when Castiel appeared at the table opposite him.

"Cas," Dean sighed. "I thought we've talked about this, you can't just puff out of nowhere in public where anyone can see you."

Castiel took a calm look around before turning his eyes back to Dean.

"I don't think anyone saw me."

"Maybe not this time, but… Never mind, just give me some good news. Did you find Gabriel?"

"No," Castiel replied calmly.

"No? Did you even look?"

"I sent him a message."

Dean frowned.

"A message?"

"Yes. I thought I made it clear that summoning an archangel is nothing like summoning a demon. It's not possible to force them to appear anywhere; all I can do is asking him."

"And if he doesn't feel like showing up?"

"Then he won't. But I hope my message will raise his interest enough for him to come and see me tomorrow."

"Yeah, let's hope so."

Dean emptied his stein and signaled the waitress to bring him another one.

"There's something we need to talk about before tomorrow," Castiel stated.

"What's that?"

"Sam."

Dean looked at him and frowned.

"What about Sam?"

Castiel met his gaze calmly.

"I don't have time for sugar cutting, so I will just get to the point…"

"Sugar what?"

"It's an expression you humans use; I was told that it means lying or saying unpleasant things the nice way."

"Oh, you mean sugar coating."

Castiel's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Yes, that was what I meant. But as I was saying, I will get to the point. I don't think Sam should come with us tomorrow."

"What? Why not?"

"Because I'm afraid there's a remarkable risk for him being unreliable."

"What?" Dean snapped. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I think you know," Castiel replied calmly.

Dean gritted his teeth and tensely thanked the waitress who brought him his beer.

"Just because Sam likes Mia doesn't mean…"

"He doesn't just like her, there's something more to it." Castiel paused and leaned forward. "When you returned to the cabin with Bobby and he saw the girl's head on my lap…"

"Woah, woah, woah, her head was on your lap?"

"Focus, Dean," Castiel sighed. "She was sleeping. My point is that when he saw us, there was something very disturbing in his eyes. Something…demonic."

"No," Dean snapped without hesitation. "He hasn't been drinking any demon blood; I would have noticed that…"

"I didn't say that he has been drinking demon blood."

Dean stared at him disbelievingly.

"What exactly are you saying then?"

Castiel hesitated for a brief moment before replying.

"I know you don't want to hear this, Dean, but he's Lucifer's vessel and that girl carries Lucifer's mark. There's something more going on between them than some sort of infatuation or physical attraction caused by hormones…"

"What would you know about those things?" Dean snapped. "You have no idea what it's really like to be a human."

"Perhaps not," Castiel replied with the same calm tone. "But I'm not blind; I can see when something is wrong."

Dean snorted and crossed his arms. He wasn't going to listen to this, especially when some small part of him feared that Castiel was right. No, that was ridiculous.

"You know, Cas, sometimes guys just need to get laid. She's a pretty girl, so who could blame Sam for being interested?"

"You want proof?" Castiel stated and stood up. "Very well then."

"Hey," Dean snapped when Castiel headed to the door. "Cas!"

Dean cursed, dropped few bills on the table and went after Castiel. He reached the angel in front of the door to their motel room.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked.

"I will give you proof," Castiel replied.

"How?"

Castiel didn't say anything; he simply opened the door without the key.

"Cas…"

Sam and Mia were lying on the bed watching TV; they got into a sitting position when Castiel entered the room, followed by Dean. Judging by Mia's reddened cheeks and swollen lips, they had been naughty. Good for Sammy.

"Hey," Mia said and tugged a stray hair behind her ear. She looked a bit uncomfortable. Was she wearing a Cookie Monster nightie…? Personally Dean was more into some sexy Victoria's Secret lingerie, but hey, he didn't judge. Whatever worked for Sam… Nevertheless she looked cute; there was nothing strange about Sam being attracted to her. Dean rolled his eyes when he glanced at Castiel, the angel was staring at Sam and Mia.

"Cas, this is ridiculous."

He didn't reply, he marched over to the bed. Both Sam and Mia looked cautious.

"What's going on?" Sam asked.

"I would like to have a word with Mia."

What the hell was he doing?

"What is it?" Mia asked when she stood in front of Castiel.

"I apologize in advance for this."

"What…"

Holy… Son of a bitch, Castiel was kissing Mia.

"Cas!" Dean snapped. "Have you lost your damn mind!"

For a moment Mia was too stunned to react, but then her hands went on Castiel's chest.

"What the hell?" she snapped when she pushed him away.

"I apologize," Castiel stated calmly and looked at Sam. "She tastes very good. I would like to have an intercourse with her."

"Are you crazy…" Dean started angrily. He didn't finish his sentence when he glanced at Sam.

"Sammy?"

Sam's eyes were black and he was growling.

"She's mine!" he snarled furiously and attacked Castiel. "No one touches what's mine!"

"Sam!"

Castiel's expression didn't change when Sam hit him on the face again and again.

"Sam, stop!" Dean shouted and grabbed his brother's arm.

Sam turned to look at him with his black eyes and was about to attack him too when Mia stepped between them and cupped Sam's face.

"Sam, please stop," she said quietly.

Sam blinked few times and closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were normal again.

"What…" he muttered.

"It's okay," Mia said calmingly and touched his cheek.

Slowly Sam looked at Dean who was unable to speak. Castiel had been right.

"What the hell was that?" Dean finally managed to ask.

Sam looked confused.

"I… I'm not sure."

Dean glanced at Castiel.

"Is he possessed?"

"No, he's not."

Sam swallowed and looked at Castiel. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"It's fine," Castiel replied. "I needed to do that to prove I was right…"

"What?" Mia snapped. "You did that on purpose?"

"Yes, it needed to be done…"

"Get out," Mia cut in angrily. "Right now."

"Watch it, devil girl," Dean said. "I don't know what you've done to Sam, but I swear…"

"She hasn't done anything to me," Sam snapped and took Mia's hand. "I won't let you or anyone else to disrespect her."

Dean stared at his brother for a moment before he was able to speak.

"You can't be serious. Your eyes were just freaking black! You can't really believe she has nothing to do with that!"

Mia flinched and looked at Sam insecurely.

"Maybe he's right," she murmured. "If I'm somehow hurting you…"

"You're not," Sam cut in firmly and gave her a brief kiss. "You're my girl, aren't you?"

She nodded and kissed his hand.

"Yeah." She paused and squished his hand. "I want to leave."

"That's not going to happen," Dean said firmly and crossed his arms. "We'll hopefully meet the archangel tomorrow and find out what the hell you are."

"Dean," Sam warned. "Watch it."

"It's fine, Sam," Mia sighed. "I want to know that too, but…" She paused and looked at Dean. "I would never intentionally hurt Sam."

"Maybe not," Dean replied tensely. "You're still doing something to him."

"No, she's not," Sam snapped. "Geez, Dean, I want to be with her! Is that a crime?"

Dean didn't say anything when Sam wrapped his arms protectively around Mia. Castiel didn't say anything either, the atmosphere in the room was tense to say the least. This was one of those times when Dean really hated to be right, but it seemed this thing would no doubt end to a tragedy.


	17. Apart for too long

**Chapter 16**

 **Apart for too long**

Lucifer clenched his fists and looked at the reflection of his temporary vessel in the mirror. The human didn't look good at all; he had nasty burn marks on his face. It made no difference; he would have his true vessel very soon. Everything would happen like it was always meant to happen and Sam Winchester would say yes to him. There was nothing anyone could do to stop that. Sam's fate had been sealed the moment he had been born. In that moment Lucifer had felt his true vessel being born and he had known that his time was near, he would finally be free. It had been time to start making other preparations.

Azazel had fulfilled Lucifer's orders well with his "special children", but unfortunately he had failed with his more important task. Yes, Azazel had made sure that Mia had been born, just like Lucifer had wanted, but then he had lost her. The girl who Azazel had chosen to give birth to Mia had suddenly left from home before giving birth and practically vanished. Since Mia couldn't be tracked, Azazel hadn't been able to find her. Fortunately for him, Lucifer had still needed him. No one, not even Azazel, had known the truth about Mia.

Lucifer had been able to felt her from his cage and he had done his best to look after her. There hadn't been very much he had been able to do, except trying to comfort her when she had needed that. Things were never supposed to go like that, Lucifer had meant for Mia to be kept safe for him by Azazel. She was supposed to grow up in a nice house where all her needs would have been taken care of and she would have never had to be afraid. When the car crash had happened, it had taken all of Lucifer's strength to protect Mia's human body, but unfortunately the price had been very high. He had lost his connection to her and he hadn't been able to appear in her dreams anymore.

Lucifer wasn't concerned about getting his true vessel, he knew that he would. Sooner or later Sam would come to him. He just needed to find Mia before that in order to prepare her. Things would be so much easier if she would have indeed been raised by his demons and be prepared for him her whole life. But then again, Lucifer did like the little fire he had felt in her when he had been in her dream. She wouldn't be a part of him if she wouldn't have any fire. He could hardly wait for finally meeting her. They had been apart for far too long.

"Father?" a female voice said. Meg, Azazel's "daughter". Lucifer didn't particularly like being called a demon's father, but he was willing to tolerate it. Demons were useful tools after all.

"Yes?" he asked and turned to look at the female demon. "Any news?"

Meg nodded.

"Yes, father. We just received a message from Crowley."

Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

"From Crowley?"

"Yes. He claims that he can deliver what you lost in exchange for full pardoning and getting his old position back. He said that he had managed to track the Winchesters."

Lucifer pressed his lips together, he wasn't sure if he liked these news. If Crowley had so much as harm a hair on Mia's head…

"Does he have her?"

Meg shook her head.

"Not yet, but he says he knows where she and the Winchesters are. He wants to make a deal with you first and have a signed contract. Personally I think…"

"Yes," Lucifer cut in. "He can have his pardon, but if he dares to damage her in any way, there will be no place in this world or in any world where he can hide from me."

* * *

Mia washed her face with cold water and slowly looked at her reflection in the mirror. She looked horrible; she hadn't really slept at all. Sam's eyes… She really didn't know what to think and she couldn't understand what had happened, but the craziest part was that she hadn't been afraid at all; she had instinctively known what to do. All she had felt had been the need to protect Sam. They hadn't really talked about anything that had happened, they hadn't had a chance when Castiel and Dean had been there the whole time, but Sam had whispered in her ear that he had things he needed to tell her.

Clearly Dean thought that this was all Mia's fault, she was some kind of she-devil. Maybe he was right, she really didn't know. All she knew was that the kind and considerate man had turned into some kind of growling black-eyed beast right after making out with her. Sure she had kissed couple of men, but no one had ever touched her like that, she hadn't let them. Sam's touch had felt right and it had made her whole body tingle, she would have let him do whatever he wanted. Everything about him felt right, she wanted to be with him. Yes, that was what she wanted, but what if she really was some kind of she-devil?

The thought made her shiver; she couldn't deny that she was scared. Running sounded a good plan to her, but she knew she couldn't do that. It was time to just face the truth, whatever it would be. There were much bigger things at stake than her personal feelings. The truth was that she really hadn't even started to process the whole thought about the apocalypse. One problem at a time. She took a deep breath and marched to the door, she was as ready as she was ever going to be. Sam, Dean and Castiel were waiting for her; none of them said a word when she came out of the bathroom. She didn't say anything either, she just walked over to Sam and took his hand.

"Let's go then," Dean stated tensely.

Castiel didn't seem pleased; he had said that Sam should wait in the motel. Mia hadn't wanted that, but she hadn't said it out loud, she didn't want to cause any more trouble or jeopardize Sam's safety in any way. Fortunately Sam had firmly refused and surprisingly Dean had taken his side, although quite reluctantly.

"Do you want some breakfast?" Sam asked when they got into the car.

Mia shook her head.

"No thanks." She paused and looked up, Dean and Castiel had just got into the car as well. "Does anyone else want something to eat?"

"I don't think so," Dean murmured and started the car.

"You don't want to eat?" Sam asked disbelievingly. "Really?"

Mia saw Dean rolling his eyes through the rearview mirror.

"Funny."

"So…where's this meeting place?" Mia asked after a moment of silence.

"Not very far," Dean replied. "It's an abandoned warehouse."

"Right… And you know this archangel?"

"Yeah. He's a dick, but let's hope he can actually be useful this one time."

For some reason Mia felt the need to giggle.

"You call the archangel Gabriel a dick?"

"You'll see why when you meet him. Most angels are dicks, don't let me even get started with Michael."

"Right…"

They were all quiet again; Mia stroked the back of Sam's wrist nervously with her thumb.

"Wait here," Castiel said and disappeared when Dean parked the car in front of this warehouse. The place certainly didn't look very nice. It didn't take long when the door to the warehouse opened.

"Are you ready?" Sam asked and calmingly kissed Mia's hand.

She forced herself to nod, although she really wanted to run. All three of them got out; Mia squished Sam's hand when they headed to the entrance of the warehouse. Castiel was waiting for them inside, the whole place was empty.

"Now what?" Dean asked.

Castial looked at him calmly.

"Now we wait."

* * *

3 hours later

"Come on," Dean snorted while pacing back and forth. "Where are you, you douche?"

"Maybe he's not coming," Sam murmured. He was sitting on the floor next to the wall with Mia; her head was leaning on his shoulder. Sam really wasn't sure if he hoped for Gabriel to show up or not. His arm was protectively around Mia, carefully he tightened his embrace. Of course he was concerned because of everything that had happened last night, but honestly, minus the whole black eye thing, he had acted like any guy would have acted when someone harassed their girl. Granted, he had never been the overly jealous type, but he was with her. She belonged to him and he would… He would what? Kill for her? Yes. Die for her? Yes. She was his. Only his.

Some part of him still understood that something was wrong. These feelings weren't completely his own. So what? He still wanted her. Why couldn't he have her after he had lost so much? Her body fit perfectly against his, like she would have been made for him. With her he felt content. Happy. Whole. How could that be evil? Maybe the whole black eye thing had simply been some kind of primal reaction. He did have some demon blood in his veins; he has had even since he had been an infant. Azazel's blood. And yes, he had drunk a lot of demon blood when he had been with Ruby, but this wasn't like that. He hadn't drunk any demon blood for a while; he didn't have any of it in his system.

"Are you cold?" he asked when he felt Mia shivering.

"No, I…I feel a little strange," she murmured.

"What do you mean…"

"Hello, folks!" a familiar voice said.

Sam looked up and saw Gabriel standing in the middle of the room.

"Brother," Castiel greeted him and moved closer. "Thank you for coming."

Quickly Sam got to his feet and helped Mia up. Gabriel's eyes scanned the room and he smiled at Mia before turning his eyes back to Castiel who was now standing in front of him.

"This better be good," Gabriel huffed and crossed his arms. "My time is very valuable."

"Yeah, yeah," Dean snorted. "We all know how you use your time. And yeah, this is going to be good."

"Do tell then."

"Mia," Dean said.

Sam tensed, but Mia squished his hand calmingly before letting go.

"It's okay," she said quietly.

Gabriel grinned when she approached him.

"Well, hello there. Is she for me?"

"You wish," Mia huffed and stopped before she reached him.

Gabriel seemed amused.

"Feisty, is she? I like that."

Sam gritted his teeth, he was struggling to control himself.

"We need you to take a look at her," Dean said after giving Sam a warning look.

Gabriel's grin grew wider.

"That would be my pleasure…"

He took a step towards Mia when Dean dropped a match on the floor. The circle of fire surrounded Gabriel immediately. He looked at Dean and Castiel disbelievingly.

"Are you kidding me?"

"It's nothing personal, we just don't trust you," Dean stated.

Gabriel's eyes narrowed.

"You will release me right now or the consequences won't be pleasant."

"What are you going to do, kill me?" Dean huffed. "You already did that likes hundreds of times."

"Oh, I can do much worse, believe me." He paused and looked at Castiel. "Release me, little brother. Now."

"I will, but I'm asking you to take a look at this girl first," Castiel replied calmly. "She's carrying Lucifer's mark."

"What?" Gabriel asked disbelievingly.

Castiel turned to look at Mia.

"Please."

"It's okay," Mia said to Sam and walked over to the others.

Gabriel was staring at her intently.

"Where's the mark?"

"Please show him," Castiel asked.

Mia sighed and took her sweater off, she was only wearing bra under it. Gabriel stared at her chest when she showed him the whole mark, his eyes widened in shock.

"No…" Gabriel murmured. "Impossible…"


	18. Amazing grace

**Chapter 17**

 **Amazing grace**

Mia got dressed as quickly as she could, she certainly didn't want to be half naked in front of a stranger. The archangel was still staring at her, he looked shocked. His stare made her confused and uncomfortable to say the least.

"You…How…" he murmured.

"What?" Dean asked. "You know what she is?"

"Let me out," Gabriel demanded without turning his eyes away from Mia. "Right now."

"Not before you'll…"

"Let me out! You idiots have no idea what you're playing with!"

His yelling made Mia flinch, she wrapped her arms around her. For some reason his anger or perhaps even desperation was making her very nervous, but not fearful. She wasn't afraid of him. No, there was something familiar about him, something she recognized.

"Hey!" Sam snapped.

Mia turned to look at him and smiled at him calmingly.

"It's okay, Sam."

Gabriel was struggling to calm down; his eyes were still on Mia.

"Look, sweetie pie, I'm sorry if I scared you, but I need you to break this circle right now. I can't help you if I'm trapped in here."

Mia looked at him cautiously.

"Help me?"

"Yes," he replied, his tone was much calmer now. "You must come with me; I can keep you safe…"

"Woah, woah," Dean cut in. "She's not coming anywhere with you before you explain what the hell is going on."

Gabriel sighed and looked at Castiel.

"We don't have time for this, little bro, she can't stay here. Release me."

"You're not taking her anywhere," Sam snapped and marched over to Mia. Gabriel stared at him when he put his arm around her.

"Oh dear…"

"What?" Dean snapped. "You better start talking or you'll rot in that circle for a long time."

Gabriel's eyebrows furrowed.

"Fine by me, but don't come asking for my help when my brother finds her. And believe me, he will find her if you won't let me hide her."

"Gabriel," Castiel said calmly. "Please tell us what she is. Why does Lucifer want her?"

Mia swallowed and instinctively snuggled closer to Sam. Gabriel looked at them for a brief moment before replying.

"Well… First of all, when I said that you boys should accept your roles in this little play called the apocalypse… It seems that at least Sam followed my advice."

"What?" Sam and Dean snapped simultaneously.

Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"The girl. You really want to have a taste of her, don't you, Sammy? And my guess is that she wants you too. Am I right, sweetheart?"

Mia's cheeks were turning red, she certainly didn't like where this was going.

"Watch it," Sam snarled and tightened his embrace.

Gabriel smiled.

"Well bravo, I have to hand it to Lucy. Very smart."

"Okay, you're really testing my patience here…" Dean started.

"Do I have to draw you a picture?" Gabriel snorted. "Your brother is attracted to this girl because her human body was made especially for him. For Lucifer's vessel."

Mia's eyes widened in shock, she gasped and stepped away from Sam.

"What?"

"Oh, she didn't know about you and Lucy?" Gabriel said. "Oops, my bad."

"Mia…" Sam started and tried to touch her, but she didn't let him.

"Don't," she murmured. "Just don't."

This was definitely more than she could take. She had trusted him and he had kept something like this from her.

"You… You knew this the whole time and you didn't…"

"I'm sorry; I was going to tell you, I swear…"

Mia turned around and ran towards the door; she couldn't handle this right now. She needed a moment to calm down.

"Mia!" Sam pleaded.

"Castiel, stop her," Gabriel demanded. "And you two yahoos let me out of this freaking circle!"

Mia didn't reach the door when someone appeared in front of her, a dark-haired man wearing a black suit.

"Hello, love," he said with a Scottish accent and grabbed her.

"NO!" someone shouted.

Mia gasped in shock; she was suddenly feeling very nauseous. Everything was spinning; she had to close her eyes in order to stay conscious.

"Stop…" she gasped weakly, but the spinning didn't stop. She would have collapsed if the man's arms wouldn't have been around her.

"Sorry about this," he said. "I'm afraid we have to take a little detour to make sure we're not followed."

Mia felt that she was going to throw up; she was too nauseous to even care about being kidnapped.

"I'm going to be sick…"

"No, no, no, don't even think about that," the man warned. "I'm wearing my favorite suit. Well, my only suit at the moment since my tailor was eaten. Honestly, what kinds of savages eat a man's tailor?"

Mia didn't respond to that, she could barely comprehend his words. Finally the spinning stopped, the man's arms were still around her.

"How are you feeling, sweetheart?"

Slowly Mia managed to open her eyes; she wasn't in the warehouse anymore.

"What…"

"There, there," the man huffed and tapped her back. "No need to worry about anything, I just want to have a little chat with you and… bloody hell!"

Mia didn't hesitate, she kicked the man between the legs as hard as she could and ran. Unfortunately her body didn't quite cooperate, she felt more than disoriented.

"Help me!" she shouted at the top of her lungs when the man caught her. They were in some kind of ramshackle house; the place looked like a real rathole. "Let me go!"

The man turned her around and glared at her.

"You didn't just do that," he snarled.

"Oh, it seemed to me that she did," an amused male voice said from behind the man who froze. For a moment Mia was sure that he looked nervous.

"Sir…" he murmured before turning around. "I was just about to bring her to you…"

"Yes, Crowley, I'm sure you were," the second man cut in absentmindedly, he was staring at Mia. Slowly his lips curved into a smile. "Hello, my dear."

* * *

"No, no, no!" Gabriel shouted. "You idiots! Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"Sammy?" Dean said, ignoring Gabriel. "Hey…"

"He's dead," Sam snarled, he was clenching his fists. "I swear I'll kill him!"

"It's okay, we'll find them…"

Dean didn't have time to finish his sentence when Castiel returned, he had gone after Crowley.

"I lost him."

"Great," Gabriel snorted. "Just perfect. Apparently freeing Lucifer wasn't enough for you, no; you just had to find some way to make this all even worse…"

"Alright, enough," Dean snapped. "Tell us what she is."

Gabriel crossed his arms.

"Why, so you can make even bigger mess? If you would have done as I said right away I would have been able to help you and her. But now…"

"Is Lucifer going to hurt her?" Sam asked, his voice held no emotion.

Gabriel let out a humorless laugh.

"Hurt her? I doubt that. Why would he hurt his most valuable possession? She's going to make him even stronger than he's now, so great job, idiots, you just did my big bro a huge favor."

"Stronger?" Castiel repeated. "How? Is she some kind of weapon?"

Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"No, she's not. She's Lucifer's grace."


	19. The missing piece

**Chapter 18**

 **The missing piece**

"That will be all, Crowley," Lucifer stated, he kept his eyes on Mia. Her breathing had quickened and she was backing away, he could practically hear her heart pounding. How fragile her human body looked, but it was nonetheless magnificent, just like he had imagined. A perfect match for his true vessel. Merging with her would no doubt be a unique experience. To have his grace back… It had been taken from him when he had been cast out of Heaven. To a normal angel, losing their grace would also mean losing their powers, but since Lucifer had been an archangel, his grace hadn't been the only source of his powers.

It had still been an important part of him, his soul so to speak, and losing it so brutally had been a very agonizing experience. Fortunately Michael hadn't managed to capture his grace; Lucifer had found it before his downfall. The bad news had been that Lucifer hadn't been able to make his grace a part of him again, not when he had been cut off from Heaven. His only chance had been to hide his grace before he had been captured. Spending centuries in the cage had given him time to find a solution to his problem. To give his grace a human body… It had been so simple. And here she finally was, his precious girl. He was the only one who could see her the way she really was. She was glowing; a bluish-white light surrounded her.

"About our agreement…" Crowley started.

"Yes," Lucifer cut in impatiently, all he wanted was to be alone with the girl. "I never lie. But I would advice you to stay out of my sight and never to test my patience again. Now leave."

Crowley didn't need to be told twice, he was gone in a fraction of a second. Mia tried to run to the door, but Lucifer appeared in front of her, startling her.

"No need to be afraid, _Meus Pretiosus_ ," Lucifer hummed softly. "I have no intention of harming you…"

"Stay away from me!" she demanded with a shaky voice and backed away.

Poor thing was so scared… That wasn't right. He smiled when she ran to the old fireplace and picked up a poker.

"What are you planning to do with that?" he inquired.

She didn't say anything; she just squished the poker with both hands.

"Alright, keep it if it helps you to feel safer, but you're really not in any kind of danger. On the contrary. I will protect you and give you everything you have ever wanted."

She was still breathing rapidly, clearly she was very afraid.

"I want to leave," she said.

He crossed his arms and smiled at her.

"Well, everything except that."

She stared at him cautiously and took a deep breath.

"What do you want from me?"

"As I said, I want to keep you safe. Look after you."

She was quiet for a brief moment before speaking.

"You…you're the devil. Why… Why would you…"

"I understand you must be confused," he replied calmingly. "Everything will be clearer soon, I promise." He paused and held out his hand. "Please."

She shook her head rigidly and lifted the poker.

"No."

"Oh come on, surely you don't want to stay here? I have prepared a very nice accommodation for you and I have a gift for you."

"I don't want anything from you," she murmured defiantly.

"Really? Well, that's a shame. Your brother Oliver has been eagerly waiting for you."

He saw a glimpse of terror in her eyes, although she tried to hide it.

"Before you ask, he's fine, I haven't hurt him. Come with me and you'll be reunited."

"Why would I believe anything you say?" she managed to ask.

He smiled.

"Despite of what most people think, I don't lie. I would certainly never lie to you, my dear."

She tensed when he took a step towards her. He stopped and kept his distance; there was no need to cause her any unnecessary distress. The fact remained that human body came with human feelings. That was something he simply needed to deal with, as inconvenient as it was. Normally Lucifer felt nothing but loathing towards humans and their feelings, but she wasn't just any human, she was a part of him. He had lost a lot of power when he had lost his grace, but that would all be fixed soon.

"What's wrong with your face?" she asked after a moment of silence, she was still squishing the poker.

Instinctively he touched his vessel's face; it seemed that the burn marks were getting worse.

"Oh, this… Just a little inconvenience. No need to be alarmed."

"It looks painful," she stated.

He smiled.

"It's not. The problem is that this body isn't my real vessel."

She tensed and pressed her lips together.

"Sam… Sam's your real vessel, right?" she murmured.

He raised an eyebrow; he had to admit that he was surprised for her knowing that.

"Yes, he is."

She was quiet for a brief moment before continuing.

"I want to make a deal with you."

He cleared his throat in order to hide his amusement.

"A deal?"

"Yeah. I'll come with you and I'll do whatever you want me to do, but in return I want you to leave Sam alone and let my brother go."

He observed her curiously; she seemed to be very much serious.

"Well… I can certainly let your brother go if that is what you want, but the part about leaving Sam alone… I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Why not?" she asked tensely.

"Because Sam was born to be my vessel, it's his fate."

"If you hurt him…" Mia started angrily and took a threatening step towards Lucifer.

Again he was surprised. She had really become attached to Sam. Interesting… And very good news to Lucifer.

"No need to worry, my dear," he said calmingly. "I wouldn't hurt Sam any more than I would hurt you. It's the truth; you know that, don't you? You know I wouldn't lie to you."

She was very confused; there was no doubt about that.

"You are safe with me," he hummed softly and approached her. "You know that. I'm the one you have been waiting for your whole life. The part of you that has been missing."

"No…" she murmured, but she didn't back away. He smiled and stepped in front of her.

"Everything is alright, my dear," he assured and carefully touched her cheek.

She flinched, but she still didn't move.

"Everything will be…" he paused and frowned when he felt a nasty sting on his stomach, she had just stabbed him with the poker. Calmly he pulled it out and dropped it on the floor.

"That wasn't very nice," he scolded and looked up.

She was shaking and few tears were rolling down her cheeks. So many feelings… He had to admit that he couldn't understand most of them, but he did understand that she was upset.

"It's alright, I'm not angry at you," he assured. "I understand you need some time to adjust and fortunately we have time."

Yes, they had some time while waiting for Sam. Mia didn't flinch anymore when Lucifer cupped her face and ran his thumb across her cheek. Touching her made him sigh blissfully; he had missed the feeling for so long. Everything was finally like it was supposed to be.


	20. Match made in Hell

**Chapter 19**

 **Match made in Hell**

"So?" Lucifer asked. "What do you think?"

Mia was tense to say the least and she kept her arms crossed when she forced herself to take a quick look around. She had never been in any kind of hotel suite, especially a royal suite. The place was huge; it covered almost the entire floor. There were several rooms and bathrooms, all of them were full of luxurious details, including a marble foyer, dining room area for over 20 people, very expensive looking furniture and artwork, a Jacuzzi bath with steam shower, a golden chandelier and several huge flat screen TVs. The suite also included a service kitchen for those who traveled with a personal chef. Just the thought felt unrealistic to Mia; she hadn't even been able to imagine something like this.

"Where's my brother?" she asked tensely.

"He'll be here soon, no need to worry."

Cautiously Mia walked around in the huge living room; she tried her best to ignore all the food on the coffee table. Fruits, berries, pastries… She couldn't deny that she was hungry, but she wasn't going to eat anything here. For all she knew, the food might be poisoned. Not that the devil needed to poison her, he could easily kill her if he wanted to. Still she wasn't going touch the food, no matter how good it looked.

"You live here?" she murmured.

"Yes, for now. I hope you find the quality of the accommodation adequate."

Mia kept her arms crossed, she didn't look at him. All she wanted was to be in that small motel room with Sam. She was scared, nervous and confused; she couldn't understand what the devil wanted from her. What was going to happen to her? What he had said about him being the missing piece of her, she prayed that it wasn't true. Sam was that piece, not him. He was the devil. He was…evil. Why had she let him touch her? And why hadn't she been repulsed by his touch? She didn't want to admit it, but his touch had felt almost…what, natural? No, she refused to accept that. He had done something to her, somehow distort her thoughts. That was the only explanation.

"I've never been in a place like this," she muttered absentmindedly and stared at the painting on the wall. Beautiful garden… She stepped closer and noticed that the painting was actually called The Garden of Eden. Talk about irony…

"That wouldn't be the case if things would have gone like they were supposed to," he replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Well… I meant for you to grow up in a nice home. I never wanted you to suffer."

She turned to look at him, she couldn't control her curiosity.

"What are you talking about?"

He smiled and took a step towards her.

"This lovely body of yours, I made it for you. A real masterpiece, I might add."

She stared at him disbelievingly, her eyes widened in terror.

"What? You…"

No, no, no, if he was saying what she thought he was saying… Please no…

"Are you saying that you're my…father?" she heard herself asking.

He seemed amused.

"No, my dear, I'm not your father."

She didn't think that she had ever been so relieved. Her life already sucked enough, she certainly didn't want to be the antichrist. But…

"What…what am I?"

She tensed when he stepped in front of her, but for some reason she didn't back away. He smiled and cupped her face, touching her cheeks with his thumbs.

"You're a very special young lady," he replied. "The woman who gave birth to you was never meant to keep you; I meant for you to have everything you could ever want. Unfortunately I couldn't be here myself and the demon who was supposed to handle things failed, he let that woman to leave with you. For that I'm truly sorry."

Mia glared at him.

"'That woman' was my mom," she hissed.

Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

"She gave birth to you, yes, but surely you agree that she wasn't in any way capable of looking after you…"

"You don't know anything about her," Mia snapped and took a step back. "And you don't know anything about me."

Lucifer observed her for a brief moment before replying, he seemed curious.

"You are defending her after everything she did. Why?"

"What do you think? She was my mom and she did her best." Mia paused and snorted. "I'm the one who ruined her life."

"Why would you think that?"

"You know why," Mia snapped. "She was an innocent girl and you put me in her. I don't know what kind of monster I am, but I know I made her a different person. She suffered and died because of me."

"Hmm," Lucifer hummed and crossed his arms. "Let me tell you something about that 'innocent' girl. Yes, she was a virgin when she became pregnant, she had to be, you needed a pure body, but that doesn't mean she would have been innocent. No, those little sinful urges… She had them a long time before you, but she was forced to suppress them. She was taught that she had to be chaste, a good girl; all the thoughts concerning the joys of the flesh were evil, impure. After she was cast out… Well, she was finally free to be who she really was. You didn't corrupt her."

Mia shook her head; she didn't know what to think.

"How would you know all that?"

"I know many things," he replied smiling. "Speaking of which, I have something to show you."

"What?" she asked cautiously.

"Your room. Please."

He waited patiently until she decided to follow him after a brief hesitation. He opened one of the closed doors and stepped aside.

"Perhaps I do know a thing or two about you," he stated.

Mia's eyes widened when she saw the room, it was like a luxury version of her apartment. Her twin bed had been replaced with a queen size canopy bed, but the floral print cover and the cushions looked the same than hers. So did the curtains and the sofa, although it seemed to be brand new and more comfortable than the old sofa she had bought from a secondhand store. There were also two matching armchairs, an ottoman and a nicer version of her modest coffee table. And of course a huge flat screen TV.

Her porcelain angels had been placed neatly on a shelf and her dream catcher was hanging above the bed. She was stunned when she looked around and opened two doors. A huge bathroom with a tub and a steam shower and a walk-in dressing room. Some of the clothes were hers from home, but most of them weren't. Finally she noticed the most important thing on the bed. George. She was just about to pick the tiger up, but then she remembered that she wasn't alone.

"What do you think?" Lucifer asked.

"Why?" she muttered. "Why would you do all this for me?"

"I want you to be comfortable here," he replied. "Anything you want or need, you'll have. All you have to do is ask."

She was quiet for a moment before turning to look at him.

"I want to know what I am and what it is you want from me."

"Ah. Well…"

A knock on the door interrupted him.

"Excuse me, sir," a male voice said. "We brought the human you requested."

If Mia wasn't mistaken, Lucifer seemed slightly annoyed.

"Bring him here."

Mia gasped when the door opened and some man shoved Oliver inside. He seemed unharmed, but he was most definitely horrified.

"Ollie!" Mia cried out and ran to him. He didn't have time to say anything when she wrapped her arms tightly around him.

"Mia?" he murmured. "What…"

"It's okay," she assured and tapped his back in a calming gesture. "Everything is going to be okay."

* * *

"She's Lucifer's…what?" Dean asked.

Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"His grace," he snorted. "G-R-A-C-E. Do you want a Spanish translation?"

"What… How can she be his grace?"

"That's a good question," Castiel stated, he was staring at Gabriel.

He snorted and crossed his arms.

"Release me, then maybe we can talk."

"I don't think so," Dean huffed. "You'll be gone the second we put that fire out."

"And why wouldn't I be?" Gabriel asked sharply. "You have made it very clear that you don't trust me, so why would I tell you anything?"

"Brother, please," Castiel pleaded. "I know that you don't want this world to be destroyed, please help us stop Lucifer."

Gabriel burst into laughter.

"Stop him? Too late, I'm afraid. All thanks to you geniuses."

"What are you saying?" Dean asked. "That he's invincible now?"

"More or less. He was already powerful enough, but now when you practically handed him his grace back…"

"Mia," Sam murmured.

Gabriel frowned.

"What?"

Slowly Sam looked up and clenched his fists.

"Her name is Mia. She's a good person who likes tea, cucumber sandwiches, Disney animations, especially Beauty and the Beast, nature documentaries, organizing things, colorful flowers, red velvet cake and Johnny Depp. She has a brother who she loves and she wants to feel safe. She's a person, not some object."

"Yes," Gabriel replied after a moment of silence. "She does have a human body, so technically that makes her a person. And as I said, you're attracted to her because…"

"I heard you the first time," Sam snapped. "You think I only care about her because I'm Lucifer's vessel. That's what you all think, right?"

"Sam," Dean sighed. "We can talk about this later; right now we need to know more about her." He paused and looked at Gabriel. "Do you know what Lucifer is going to do with her? I mean, I thought that an angel loses his mojo when he loses his grace."

"A normal angel yes, an archangel no," Gabriel replied. "Lucifer was stripped of his grace as a punishment when he defied our Father. Michael tried to look for his grace for a long time, but he never found it. We never imagined that Lucifer actually managed to take it with him when he fell."

"And now Lucifer has given it a human body," Castiel stated.

"Yes, so it seems."

"Why?" Dean asked. "If he wanted it back, why didn't he just…I don't know, swallowed it or something?"

Sam glared at Dean, but he tried to ignore that.

"He couldn't, not when he was cut off from Heaven," Gabriel responded.

"And now?" Dean paused when he realized something. "He's not going to eat her, is he?"

"Of course not, you moron, why would he do that," Gabriel snorted. "He still can't have his grace back in him, but it seems that he found a way to harvest its power."

"Meaning what?"

Gabriel glanced at Sam before replying.

"My best guess would be a physical contact."

Sam's eyes darkened.

"What?"

Gabriel raised his hands in surrender.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just guessing here."

"Physical contact?" Dean repeated. "You mean…"

"Yep. The closest physical contact there is." He paused and looked at Sam. "You want that, don't you? You want her?"

Sam gritted his teeth.

"What does that have to…"

"I think we both know. Lucifer believes you're going to eventually say yes to him and then... Let's just say that I don't think you and the little lady are going to ride to the sunset together. What you would have would literally be a match made in Hell."


	21. Team player

**Chapter 20**

 **Team player**

Lucifer observed Mia and her brother who was utterly shocked and as pale as a ghost. Being possessed usually wasn't a very pleasant experience to a human, although Ezra had assured that he hadn't damaged this human's body in any way. Mia was hugging him and stroking his back, clearly she cared about him very much. For some reason the thought irritated Lucifer quite a lot.

"What…what's going on?" the human murmured after he finally managed to pull himself together enough to form a sentence.

Mia pulled away and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

He looked confused and distressed.

"I… I don't understand… I couldn't control my own body; it was like some kind of nightmare. Am I losing my mind?"

Mia shook her head and touched her brother's cheek.

"No, you're not." She paused and turned to look at Lucifer who observed them silently. "What did you do to him?"

Her tone of voice was angry and accusative; it made the bluish-white light that surrounded her brighter, revealing the fire in her. She truly was magnificent.

"He will be fine," Lucifer replied calmly, suppressing a smile.

Mia gritted her teeth.

"That's not what I asked."

"Who's he?" the human muttered, he was staring at Lucifer.

"The devil," Mia replied tensely.

The human's eyes widened.

"What?"

"It's okay," Mia assured and tapped her brother's shoulder. He looked at Mia and Lucifer in turns.

"What… He's…the devil?"

Lucifer crossed his arms, the human was boring him.

"Yes, that's how you humans call me," he responded dryly. "And no, you're not losing your mind; you were possessed by a demon."

"What?" Mia snapped. "You did that to my brother!"

"Mia," the human muttered tensely and touched her shoulder. "Please stop yelling at the devil."

This time Lucifer couldn't suppress his smile, apparently the human was able to offer him some amusement after all. Mia clenched her fists and glared at him furiously.

"Yes," Lucifer replied. "I'm afraid it was necessary in case you would have contacted him. But as you can see, he's fine now. No harm done."

Mia didn't respond to that; she turned back to her brother.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

The human didn't say anything, apparently all of this was too much for him to handle.

"Can we have a moment alone?" Mia asked tensely without looking at Lucifer.

"Sure," Lucifer replied.

Mia wrapped her arm around the human and guided him towards the sofa. Lucifer walked out the room and closed the door behind him. He wasn't very pleased, but unfortunately he needed to deal with this. The human was important to Mia and keeping her happy was crucial for Lucifer's plans. He was almost finished with the preparations; everything was like it was supposed to be. Very soon he would be more powerful than ever before.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Gabriel snorted. "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

Dean pressed his lips together and reminded himself once again why they needed this guy. They needed all the help they could get at the moment and sadly Gabriel was their best ally against Lucifer. Dean certainly didn't trust him, but right now it seemed that they were on the same side. For some reason the archangel had actually agreed to help them after they had freed him. Of course he had first made it very clear that they wouldn't stand a chance without him, all they were good at was making a mess.

He was sitting in the backseat looking more than bored. Sam was next to Dean in the front seat, he hadn't really spoken much. Dean was very worried about his brother, Sam wasn't himself at all. Falling for the devil's grace… That must be a new record, even for a Winchester. And the whole match made in Hell… Just freaking perfect. Dean glanced at his brother's callous face and suppressed a sigh. Poor Sammy.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

Dean gritted his teeth, trying his best to fight against his urge to strangle Gabriel. Hopefully Cas would be here soon, he had gone to look for some leads.

"Are we there yet? Are we…"

"Could you please shut your damn pie hole already?" Dean finally snapped.

Gabriel grinned.

"Sure, I can be gone in a second if you just tell me where we're going."

"For the last time, no," Dean responded.

Gabriel frowned.

"I offered you duffers my help and you don't trust me enough to tell me our destination? You know, someone else could be insulted."

Dean didn't say anything; he had no intention to tell Gabriel where the cabin was. He preferred keeping the archangel here where he could see him. They needed to pick up Bobby and start to make a plan. A very, very good plan. Hopefully. If Lucifer would manage to harvest his grace's power… Well, they would be pretty much screwed. Not even Michael would be strong enough to beat Lucifer after that. It was possible to destroy an angel's grace, even an archangel's, but according to Gabriel, that certainly wouldn't be a good idea. It would be like a massive nuclear explosion.

Basically their only chance was to find Mia and get her away from Lucifer before he would get anything from her. They would have to hide her; Gabriel had said that he knew places where Lucifer would never be able to find her. Dean hadn't asked what those places were, it didn't matter. He didn't allow himself to see Mia as a person anymore, he couldn't. Of course he felt sorry for her, but he had to suppress those feelings. The only thing that mattered was stopping Lucifer. Obviously Sammy didn't think like that and it was possible that they would have to take care of this without him.

"I'm bored," Gabriel complained.

"That's too bad," Dean muttered.

Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, why do I have to sit here? This is slow and inconvenient way to travel and your car smells like greasy fast food."

"You don't like fast food?" Dean asked carelessly.

"No," Gabriel snorted and turned up his nose. "And neither should you, it'll kill you."

"Yeah, I doubt that I'll live long enough to have a heart attack."

Gabriel seemed amused.

"Yes, I suppose you're right." He paused and glanced at Sam. "You Winchesters certainly seem to attract trouble."

Sam didn't say anything; he simply stared at the road with a blank expression. Dean was becoming more and more concerned, but he wasn't going to say anything in front of Gabriel. The ride back to the cabin felt incredibly long, especially when Gabriel kept complaining.

"Sam?" Dean said when he finally parked the Impala in front of the cabin. "Sam?"

"Hmm?"

"We're here. Come and help me with Bobby."

"Yeah, sure."

They both got out and headed to the front door. Bobby was already waiting for them; Dean had let him know what was going on.

"Sam," Bobby said sympathetically. "We'll find her."

"Yeah," Sam murmured, he wasn't looking at Bobby.

Dean truly hoped that he would know what was going on in his brother's head.

"Sammy…"

"What's taking so long?" Gabriel asked, he was standing in the doorway.

Bobby frowned.

"This is the archangel?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," Dean snorted and took care of the introductions. "We'll be right there, Bobby needs to…"

"Hold on," Gabriel huffed and marched to Bobby.

"What are you…" Bobby started when Gabriel took a hold of his wrist.

"There, you can walk now." Gabriel glanced at Dean, looking utterly pleased with himself. "See, I can be a team player. Hurry up now, we don't have the whole day."

With that he marched out, leaving stunned Bobby to stare after him. Very carefully Bobby stood up and took few cautious steps. His lips curved into the first genuine smile after losing his ability to walk.

"Well I'll be damned… A dick or not, but I think I really like that guy."


End file.
